WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro man was found unresponsive in his cell at the Fairfield County Detention Center on Saturday, almost 24 hours after being arrested for disorderly conduct.
Vernon Branham, 38, was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Fairfield Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:52 p.m. Saturday, according to Fairfield County Deputy Director Davis Anderson.
Anderson said Branham was arrested around midnight on Friday night at the Bi-Lo shopping center on the Highway 321 Bypass intersection with Columbia Road.
According to Anderson, Branham was taken to the FMH emergency room for treatment of a laceration over one eye. Anderson said he under stands that Branham was also administered a drug to counteract what medical personnel believed to possibly be a drug overdose.
Branham was transported to FCDC where he remained until detention center personnel came to transport him to court for a bond hearing around 4:30 p.m. It was then that Branham was found to be unresponsive, Anderson said. He was then rushed by ambulance back to the emergency room.
The incident is under investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
