State probe underway after Tennessee man dies during booking at local jail

An investigation is underway after an inmate died while in the custody of the Grundy County Sheriff's Office.

The Middle Tennessee county is on the southeastern edge of the grand division, about 98 miles from Nashville.

Grundy County deputies were called to a one-vehicle crash on Sherrell Road May 29. They found Ronnie Ledbetter "combative and was actively resisting" help from paramedics, according to a statement from the Sheriff's Office Thursday evening.

Ledbetter appeared to be intoxicated and under the influence of a narcotic, the statement said.

After paramedics cleared him of injuries, Ledbetter was taken into custody and put in the back of a deputy's patrol car.

"Mr. Ledbetter began trying to kick the glass out of the unit, along with headbutting the glass," the statement said. He was moved to a different patrol vehicle with bars over the glass and taken to the jail.

"Upon arrival at the jail, Mr. Ledbetter continued to fight and resist deputies while getting him out of the unit and into a booking cell," the statement said. "Once inside the jail, Mr. Ledbetter was secured and his handcuffs were removed. As deputies placed him in a seated position, they observed he had stopped breathing."

Jail staff gave Ledbetter Narcan, an overdose reversal drug, they started CPR and used a defibrillator on him, the statement said.

Ledbetter was taken to the Sewanee Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Sheriff's Office and District Attorney Courtney Lynch's Office called the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to take on the case. All video footage from the jail was turned over to the TBI, and the autopsy results are still pending, the statement said.