O.C. inmate dies after jailhouse altercation

An Orange County jail inmate has died one day after he was hospitalized following an altercation with a fellow inmate, authorities said Thursday.

Thiep Truong Nguyen, 49, had been in the Theo Lacy Jail in Orange on charges of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock.

Nguyen was found unconscious inside his jail cell before noon Tuesday after deputies responded to a physical altercation between Nguyen and his cellmate.

Nguyen, who was scheduled to appear in court Friday, was taken to a hospital in extremely critical condition, Hallock said.

Investigators are withholding the name of the other inmate involved in the altercation, a 39-year-old.

It’s unclear if the incident was a fight or an attack. The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating the incident.

The jail, the county’s largest detention center, is a maximum-security facility that can hold more than 3,400 inmates.

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