Suspect died of cocaine — not Taser

The Sheriff’s Office now knows what killed a man in custody Feb. 21.

The Kitsap County Coroner’s report, released March 13 to the County Health District and to the Sheriff’s Office, states that Curt L. Rosentangle, 44, of Silverdale, died of “excited delirium with cardiac arrhythmia” as a consequence of “acute cocaine intoxication,” said Deputy Coroner Louise Hall. She added that a contributing cause of death was partial blockage of Rosentangle’s heart arteries. “He was suffering from arterial sclerosis.”

In other words, the man suffered a heart attack from cocaine use, said Sheriff’s officials and not by a Taser a deputy used to try to subdue Rosentangle.

The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the death, said Deputy Scott Wilson, and was due to come to its own conclusions by the end of last week.

“We’re doing a two-pronged investigation,” said Wilson. “There’s the detective investigation of the incident itself, and the administrative investigation to ensure deputies followed department policy. At this point, we believe policy was followed.”

Deputies struggled with Rosentangle on the night of his death, and he was tasered twice while he was being apprehended after it was reported he was running up and down halls smashing porch lights and trying to force his way into apartments. The Taser has been ruled out as a contributor to the man’s death.

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