
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993                   TAG: 9303270222
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MAN, 34, KILLS HIMSELF IN GALAX JAIL

A Galax man who had been arrested for allegedly being drunk in public Wednesday night hung himself in the Galax jail shortly before he was to have been released, the town's police chief said Thursday.

David Timothy Sawyers, 34, apparently hung himself with one of his shoestrings by tying one end around a bar and leaning forward with it tied around his neck, Chief B.R. Melton said.

Sawyers, who had been arrested on the misdemeanor charge around 6 p.m., was found dead around 11:20 p.m. when an officer came to release him, Melton said. He had been alone in the cell all night.

Melton said Sawyers had been checked periodically throughout the night, and had been sleeping most of the time. An officer had checked on him 30 to 45 minutes before his body was found, he said.

"We had no indication whatsoever . . . that he had anything like this in mind," Melton said.

He said the department was awaiting the results of an autopsy.

Sawyers apparently lived in Galax all his life, Melton said.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB