Man dies at Placerville hospital after struggle with El Dorado County Sheriff’s deputies

A man died Saturday night in Placerville after an struggle with sheriff’s deputies who were initially called out to help with a person in distress refusing to go to the hospital.

In a news release, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said Odie Prettyman, 49, died at Marshall Medical Center after being taken from a home on Rainbow Ridge Road.

Deputies were called in just before 9 p.m. to assist medical personnel with the El Dorado County Fire District, whose personnel were attempting to transport Prettyman to the hospital.

The Sheriff’s Office described Prettyman as “a combative patient” and said he was in “obvious medical and mental distress but refused to be transported by medics.”

Deputies told Prettyman that he needed to go to the hospital when, according to the Sheriff’s Office, he grabbed a metal pen and slashed it at the deputies, who grabbed his hand and disarmed him.

“At that time, Prettyman began to show signs of medical distress,” the Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies performed CPR on Prettyman, who was then placed on a gurney and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A multi-agency team — comprising the Sheriff’s Office, the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, the Placerville Police Department and the South Lake Tahoe Police Department — will investigate Prettyman’s death.

The cause of his death is still under investigation by the coroner unit of the Sheriff’s Office.