Dartmouth man dies at New Bedford jail

Mar 7, 2017

A Dartmouth man has died after he was found in his cell at the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford on March 5.

According to Jonathan Darling, spokesperson for the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, 22-year-old Tyler Holdsworth was discovered in his cell Sunday evening. He was transported to Saint Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at around 5:30 p.m.

The unattended death is a suspected suicide, Darling said, but an official cause of death will need to be established in a coroner’s report.

Dartmouth police arrested Holdsworth on an outstanding probation warrant at 2:21 a.m. on March 4, according to Deputy Police Chief Brian Levesque. Holdsworth was also charged with assault and battery of a police officer and resisting arrest after he was uncooperative during the arrest, Levesque said.

Darling said an investigation will be conducted by the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts State Police.

“It’s very unfortunate," Darling said. “All of us are shattered by it. It’s sad when this happens.”