ANDERSON COUNTY, Texas — An East Texas man held at the Anderson County Jail has died on Saturday while being incarcerated.
The man has been identified as Rodney Lynn McKenzie, 47, of Frankston.
On Oct. 5 around 11:59 p.m., McKenzie was arrested by the Frankston Police Department on two outstanding traffic warrants issued by Anderson County Justice Court, Precinct #2, according to Anderson County Sheriff Rudy Flores.
Flores said McKenzie was transported to the Anderson County Jail and screened for acceptance by the medical staff where he was later booked into jail.
McKenzie was placed in a holding cell in the booking area from 1:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. On Friday, McKenzie was shifted to an assigned cell, according to Flores.
The next morning the jail staff noticed McKenzie routinely moving inside of his cell at approximately 6 a.m. and again around 9:30 a.m., according to Flores.
Flores noted at around 10:05 a.m., inmates in the cell alerted the control operator by intercom that McKenzie was experiencing medical distress.
Flores said jail staff and medical personnel responded to the cell where they found McKenzie to not be responsive, but have detectable vital signs of a pulse and heartbeat.
Flores said McKenzie was transported to the Palestine Regional Medical Center by ambulance for an evaluation. At 10:57 a.m., McKenzie was pronounced dead while being treated in the emergency room.
As of now, the Texas Rangers is conducting a further investigation of his death.