Óscar López Acosta
Óscar López Acosta, a 42-year-old Honduran man with diabetes, was a devout Christian and the father of three children, who usually worked construction in summer and at a chicken farm in winter, according to a professor who visited him and his widow's description of him as responsible, caring and attentive. He was held in immigration detention at the Morrow County Jail in Gilead, Ohio, and was released by ICE on April 24, 2020, without being tested, after a person in his dorm tested positive for COVID-19. After an ambulance took him to a hospital in Dayton on May 3, he tested positive, and he died there on May 10, 2020, from complications of the coronavirus, as the local coroner's office confirmed. His family and the ACLU of Ohio say he was infected in ICE custody, while officials have not confirmed how or where he contracted the virus.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (neglect alleged). The local coroner's office confirmed complications from COVID-19, and his family and ACLU of Ohio attorneys say ICE released him without testing after a dormmate tested positive and that he was infected in ICE custody.
Reported by: local coroner's office (medical examiner or coroner); his family and ACLU of Ohio attorneys (family or their lawyers).