Tarrant County jail inmate suffers medical emergency, dies at hospital: sheriff
A 63-year-old jail inmate died on Sunday at a Fort Worth hospital while he was in the custody of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, authorities said Tuesday.
Steven Whittley died at John Peter Smith Hospital, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Whittley on Aug. 22 experienced a medical emergency and was reported unresponsive in his cell, according to a Sheriff’s Office statement that did not identify Whittley by name.
Detention staff and JPS medical staff began treatment, and Whittley was taken to the hospital and admitted to its ICU. Whittley died two days later.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Whittley on July 11 on suspicion of a drug sales offense.
Whittley had a criminal history dating to 1985 of robbery, dog fighting and drug sales and possession offenses.
The medical examiner’s office has not released Whittley’s cause or manner of death.
Standard reviews and investigations of the death are underway.
The medical examiner’s office concluded that the death in April of a woman in sheriff’s office custody was caused by a coronary thrombus, or blood clot, due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
Lizza Gadlin, 57, died on April 19 after she was arrested at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport four days earlier on suspicion of theft of property between $100 and $750.
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 4:41 PM.
