William Scott
William "Bobby" Scott, 32, was an engineer at the Freeport-McMoRan Morenci facility, and according to a later report he had recently bought a $300,000 home for his mother, sister and other family members. He was placed alone in a single holding cell at the Greenlee County Jail in Arizona, and on October 12, 2018, he was found hanging in the cell. An internal county investigation reportedly found he was not handled under the county's suicide prevention policy and had gone more than seven hours without an in-person check. The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office, in a preliminary report, classified the death as suicide, and an autopsy estimated he had been dead for a few hours. A 2019 settlement with his mother led to changes in detention policies.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (neglect alleged). The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office's preliminary report calls the death a suicide by hanging, and an internal county investigation found Scott was not handled under the county's suicide prevention policy and went more than seven hours without an in-person check.
Reported by: Pima County Medical Examiner's Office (medical examiner or coroner); Greenlee County Jail internal investigation (the agency that held him); Greenlee County Sheriff's Office (the agency that held him); his mother's 2019 settlement (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His mother sued Greenlee County over his death in the Greenlee County jail, and the case was resolved by a 2019 settlement that led to changes in detention policies, with the amount not reported.