28-year-old woman found unresponsive in Hennepin County jail, dies later in hospital

A 28-year-old woman was found unresponsive in her cell at the Hennepin County jail late last month and died a few days later at a hospital, according to a search warrant application filed Monday.

Just after 10 a.m. on Aug. 25, a deputy conducting a welfare check found Sharmaine Karine Hawes lying on the floor of her cell and wrapped in a blanket, according to the warrant, which seeks medical records from HCMC. Hawes, who was alone in the cell, didn’t respond when the deputy called to her.

The deputy and a nurse found Hawes was breathing, and the jail staff administered Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, according to the affidavit. Hawes’ pulse faded and staff tried CPR. She was eventually taken to HCMC’s intensive care unit. She died at 5 a.m. Aug. 28, the documents say.

The warrant, requested by Hennepin County sheriff’s investigator Adam Seamans, says the facts of the case show evidence of a possible crime, though “the circumstances leading up to Hawes being found unresponsive in her cell, as well as how she died, is unknown.”

Megan Larson, a spokeswoman for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the jail and is investigating the case, would not comment because Hawes “was not in our custody at the time of her death.” Larson directed questions to HCMC, where a spokeswoman didn’t reply immediately to a request for information.

Hawes had been detained in the jail since Aug. 23 on a probable cause hold for theft.