NEW CITY, N.Y. (AP) - A 36-year-old man accused of killing a woman by deliberately driving into a family outside a 7-Eleven store in Rockland County was found dead in his jail cell, authorities announced Friday.
Jason Mendez was declared dead Thursday night after corrections officers found him in his cell at the Rockland County Jail in New City, District Attorney Thomas Walsh said. An autopsy will determine Mendez’s cause of death.
Mendez was awaiting trial on charges of driving his car into the family of Shawn and Melissa DeLoatch in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Haverstraw on Feb. 20, 2019. Melissa DeLoatch was killed and her family members including six young children were injured.
Walsh said the district attorney’s office will work with the Rockland County sheriff’s office to investigate Mendez’s death. “The residents of Rockland County can be assured of transparency at each and every stage of the investigation,” he said in a statement.
Walsh said his office had hoped to bring justice to the DeLoatch family, “and we are saddened that it will not be the case.”
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