Wayne Baca
Wayne Baca, 64, died at the El Paso County jail in Colorado Springs in early September 2021. His cause of death is given as COVID-19 complications, and an autopsy describes COVID pneumonia alongside bacterial pneumonia. A report from Colorado Politics says he asked jail staff for medical help on Aug. 27, 2021, saying he was coughing and sleeping a lot, and that he tested positive for the virus the next day before being moved to a COVID unit and then taken to a hospital. The same report says his family chose to withdraw medical care before he died on Sept. 2, and that the article questions whether jail staff should have monitored him more closely; the jail's medical provider declined to comment on his care. The Colorado Sun reported that the virus also contributed to two more deaths at the jail that month, according to autopsies.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness. The autopsy attributes his death to COVID-19 pneumonia complicated by bacterial pneumonia.
Reported by: autopsy.