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Hillsborough Jail Inmate Found Hanging By Bedsheet Dies

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 30, 2008

An inmate at Orient Road Jail died Thursday night at Tampa General Hospital after he was found hanging by a bedsheet in his cell, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said today.

Tampa police arrested Harold Drier, 42, of Tampa, shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday in connection with a recent convenience store robbery. Drier was charged with felony armed robbery, records show.

On Thursday morning, he made a court appearance via a video link from the jail to the courthouse and was later returned to his cell, Carter said.

About 10:30 a.m., another inmate called out to deputies to alert them that something had happened to Drier, she said.

In the six minutes that he had been back from his court appearance, Drier apparently tied a bedsheet from the top bunk in the two-bunk cell around his neck and asphyxiated himself by leaning forward over the lower bunk, Carter said.

Deputies untied him, and he was rushed by Hillsborough County Fire Rescue to Tampa General Hospital, she said. At 9:30 p.m., Drier was pronounced dead.

Relatives at the home where Drier lived on North Marks Street expressed frustration that something like this could happen in the jail.

Harold Drier Sr., 80, said doctors told him that his son had been without oxygen for so long that he could not be considered a possible organ donor.

The family declined to comment further.

Drier was housed in one of the jail's general population pods. Carter said the inmate had shown no signs of duress upon his return from court and had not been classified as needing to be closely observed by deputies under any kind of suicide watch.

A review is under way at the jail to determine how Drier was able to apparently hang himself without being seen, she said.

A TBO.com reader had identified Drier as the man with a muscular build who was recorded on a video surveillance tape swiping a cash register from Vince's Grocery, 7215 N. Rome Ave., about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said.

The man in the video had threatened the clerk with a knife, police said. Police released the video about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. Working several leads, officers surprised Drier at his ex-girlfriend's home at 534 Archstone Drive about 1:10 Wednesday morning, police said.

They found the store's cash register in the back seat of Drier's blue 1997 GMC pickup truck, along with two other registers, police said.

Drier was released from state prison in May 2007 after serving four years for convictions of grand theft, trafficking in stolen property, robbery, forgery and burglary, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

He had served an earlier stint in prison from January 1989 to February 1990 for similar convictions, records show.

Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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