A 32-year-old woman who was in the custody of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office died Monday in a hospital intensive care unit.
Heidiann Gitts was an inmate at the Tarrant County Jail when she experienced a medical emergency about 12:30 p.m. Monday, according to the sheriff’s office. The agency did not refer to Gitts’ name in its account. The medical emergency occurred while Gitts was in the presence of a nurse.
Life-saving measures were attempted, and Gitts was taken from the jail at 100 N. Lamar St. in Fort Worth to John Peter Smith Hospital. The nature of the medical problem is not known, according to the sheriff’s office.
She was pronounced dead about 9 p.m.
Two days earlier, North Richland Hills police arrested Gitts on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and theft, and she was booked into the jail.
Gitts was on the second day of a fentanyl and alcohol detoxification program when she died, according to the sheriffs office.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy. The office has not released the cause or manner of Gitts’ death.
Gitts was the second person to die in the custody of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office this year.
Gitts’ death will be reviewed and investigated by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office jail staff and its criminal investigations division, JPS medical staff, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Fort Worth Police Department, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Texas Attorney General’s Office.