LUCERNE – The Lake County Sheriff's Office reported Thursday that they've been unable to substantiate reports of an assault on a man who died earlier this month.
Sheriff's office spokesman Capt. James Bauman said that investigators have been unable to tie the death of 45-year-old Jimmy Lee Clevidence of Lucerne to an alleged assault.
Bauman explained that on April 10 shortly before 10:30 p.m. sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of 14th Avenue and Highway 20 in Lucerne on a report of a possible physical disturbance involving two men.
He said it was initially reported that one man was on top of another; however, while deputies were still responding, further information came in that one of the men had actually passed out and the other was apparently trying to help him up. Medics from the Northshore Fire Protection District were then dispatched at the request of one of the responding deputies.
When deputies arrived, they located Clevidence lying on the sidewalk. Bauman said Clevidence was extremely intoxicated and unable to stand on his own.
A friend of Clevidence’s, identified as 29-year-old Antonio Lewis Avelos, also of Lucerne, was with Clevidence when deputies arrived. Bauman said Avelos told deputies he was in the area when he saw Clevidence fall and hit the sidewalk due to his intoxication. Avelos was in the process of helping Clevidence when deputies arrived.
Northshore medics evaluated Clevidence at the scene of the fall and released him to the deputies, said Bauman. He was then arrested for public intoxication as he was unable to care for his own safety and transported to the Lake County Jail.
Upon his arrival at the jail, medical staff there determined Clevidence would have to be medically cleared prior to booking due to his level of intoxication. Bauman said Clevidence was then transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital where he was examined and cleared for booking.
Clevidence was subsequently booked for misdemeanor public intoxication and was to be released when sober enough to care for his own safety, Bauman said.
After approximately four hours of being detained and checked every 15 minutes in a sobering cell at the jail, custody officers were conducting their observation check on Clevidence at 4:20 a.m. and could not get him to respond verbally, according to Bauman.
Jail medical staff were called to the cell and it was determined Clevidence needed to go back to the hospital. Bauman said medics from the Lakeport Fire Protection District responded and transported Clevidence back to Sutter Lakeside accompanied by custody staff.
At about 7:40 a.m., Clevidence was released in terms of his custody status with the jail pursuant to the penal code. But Bauman said Clevidence apparently took a turn for the worse later that morning while still admitted at Sutter Lakeside and was flown via air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
Bauman said Clevidence remained in Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital’s Critical Care Unit since being admitted on April 11 and on April 21 at about 5 p.m. Clevidence died.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office began receiving unverified information that Clevidence may have been assaulted prior to being arrested on April 11, Bauman said.
Pending further investigation into those claims, Bauman said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office requested jurisdiction over coroner’s investigation to determine his cause of death and on Thursday morning, an autopsy was performed at the Napa County Coroner’s Office.
Bauman said the resulting cause of Clevidence's death has been determined to be acute respiratory failure due to a blunt force injury to the head. The manner of death is currently believed to be accidental due to a mechanical fall.
Sheriff’s detectives have interviewed as many as eight Lucerne residents since Wednesday morning and thus far, no one has been able to verify any assault occurred, said Bauman.
Bauman said the case remains under investigation.
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
