Teen inmate's death ruled justifiable, unintentional

19-year-old died by asphyxiation in March

Clay County Sheriff's Office booking photo of Daniel Linsinbigler

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – The state attorney's office has found the corrections officers were justified in how they restrained a 19-year-old inmate in the Clay County jail earlier this year, unintentionally causing his death by asphyxiation.

While the Medical Examiner ruled Daniel Linsinbigler's death a homicide, the state attorney's office called it accidental, saying there was no criminal wrongdoing on the part of the deputies.

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Linsinbigler was arrested in March after he was found running naked outside and then entering a woman's hotel room and yelling Bible verses at her.

He was on suicide watch in a cell when he started acting violently, hitting the walls, investigators said. They said corrections officers were not able to calm him down, so they went into the cell, having decided to put him in a restraint chair for his own safety.

Investigators said Linsinbigler resisted and was pepper-sprayed twice.

They said officers wrestled him into the chair and put a spit mask on him at about 8:13 a.m. As of 8:56 a.m., he was seen moving in the chair, and 10 minutes later, he was found unresponsive.

Linsinbigler died at Orange Park Medical Center at about 10 a.m.

At the time of his death, Linsinbigler was in jail awaiting arraignment on charges of indecent exposure by unlawfully exposing his sexual organs.