GAINESVILLE – A 40-year-old Newberry man who had been held in the Alachua County Jail since his arrest last month was found unresponsive in his cell Thursday morning and died despite efforts by detention officers, medical staff and emergency responders to revive him, according to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.
The man was identified as Chintan Vimalkumar Shah, a former associate clinical professor at the University of Florida and kidney specialist at UF Health Shands. His next of kin has been notified.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, detention officers were conducting a morning cell inspection Aug. 13 when they found Shah unresponsive in bed. He was housed alone in the cell.
Officers immediately initiated a “Code Blue,” summoning detention and jail medical personnel. CPR was performed and an automated external defibrillator was used as part of the efforts to revive Shah.
Jail staff contacted the Combined Communications Center at 7:23 a.m. to request emergency medical services. Emergency medical personnel arrived at 7:31 a.m. and took over resuscitation efforts.
Shah was pronounced dead at 7:42 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office said.
No cause of death was provided in the agency’s announcement.
The Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division responded to the jail and is investigating the death. The agency said such an investigation is standard procedure whenever a person dies while in custody at the Department of the Jail.
A separate internal investigation is being conducted by the Sheriff’s Office of Professional Standards.
Shah had been in custody following his July 8 arrest after sheriff’s deputies investigated a CyberTip involving a Kik account that allegedly shared a video depicting a nude prepubescent girl.
Additional charges were subsequently filed as the investigation continued, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The agency did not provide additional details about the circumstances surrounding Shah’s death or indicate whether investigators had identified any preliminary cause. The criminal and internal investigations into the in-custody death remain underway.
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