By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com
A Butte County man arrested in the fierce beating of an acquaintance was found dead in the Butte County Jail Friday night in an apparent suicide, authorities said today.
David Ryan Forester, 36, was found at 7:26 p.m. as deputies were conducting a routine head count, the sheriff's office said. A deputy found Forester "hanging by the neck from the top bunk inside a cell," the sheriff's office said in a release.
Officials administered CPR and first aid and he was taken by ambulance to Oroville Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Sheriff's detectives and officials from the Butte County District Attorney's office will investigate Forester's death.
Forester had been in the jail only two days following his arrest on charges of torture, kidnapping, making criminal threats and conspiracy to commit a crime, Paradise police Officer Tim DeNecohea said this afternoon. The charges included a gang enhancement because of Forester's involvement in the "Booze Fighters," which is affiliated with the Hell's Angels, DeNecochea said.
DeNecochea said Forester and another man had coerced an acquaintance into going to a house in Paradise on Wednesday, where they beat him for several hours. The victim managed to escape at one point, but the pair dragged him back for more beatings until he was able to get loose again, police said.
The victim was taken to Roseville Memorial Hospital for treatment of several fractures to his head, bleeding of the brain, fractured ribs and a lacerated spleen, DeNecochea said.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.