Man Who Died in Jail Had Been Arrested for Vandalism

Autopsy results are still pending on the after being found unresponsive at Marin County Jail on Saturday, but new details have emerged about the nature of his arrest by one day earlier.

Anthony Carmignani of Alameda was arrested at 3:28 p.m. Friday in the 1700 block of Grant Avenue following a call from a woman believed to be Carmignani’s wife, according to Margo Rohrbacher, spokeswoman for San Rafael police. The woman said Carmignani had been vandalizing her car.

Carmignani resisted arrest by officers from Novato police, but no further details on the confrontation were made public, Rohrbacher said. San Rafael police is investigating Carmignani’s death; it is routine for an outside agency to handle such investigations when somebody dies in law enforcement custody.

Carmignani was booked at Marin County Jail at 4 p.m. Friday on suspicion of vandalism and violation of parole, records show.

Earlier Friday, a woman drove Carmignani to the Novato Police Department on Machin Avenue at 12:33 p.m., according to police records. He refused to get out of the car and then fled on foot when the woman called police. The records show that the woman was Carmignani’s ex-wife.

About 3 ½ hours after Carmignani was arrested, his mother reported from her home in the downtown area that a window had been forced open and a container of pills was found open. She told officers she suspected her son broke in and stole the drugs earlier that day.

Carmignani was found unresponsive in his cell at 12:02 p.m. Saturday and was pronounced dead at 12:44 p.m.

A Novato police spokesman said the department is prohibited from discussing the case during the investigation.

Rohrbacher said the autopsy was done by the Sonoma County Sheriff-Coroner’s office and that “it may take a while” to get the results.