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After reviewing the four-month investigation into the death of a woman who died of cardiac arrest while in custody at Clackamas County Jail, the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office has concluded the incident was not the result of criminal negligence by Sheriff’s Office personnel.
Gerlinde Spring Lynch died at the jail less than two hours after she was arrested in downtown Oregon City on Feb. 18, 2026. When Lynch struggled with deputies and failed to comply with orders, she was placed in a restraint chair used to control combative or potentially violent detainees. The restraint of Lynch that evening and her resistance to that restraint contributed to, but did not cause, Lynch’s death, a medical examiner found.
Lynch, 47, died of cardiac arrest resulting from a combination of factors: methamphetamine toxicity, physical restraint, obesity and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, according to the medical examiner’s autopsy report. A toxicology test found Lynch had 1500 ng/ml of methamphetamine in her system when she died.
The death was ruled a homicide, which is a medical, not a legal conclusion.
Lynch was released from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility on Feb.13, 2026, after serving a two-year sentence for Criminal Mischief in the First Degree.
On Feb. 18, Lynch was arrested in Wilsonville after she trespassed on private property and began pulling up plants. The arresting officer noted that Lynch was disoriented but compliant. She was booked into the Clackamas County Jail at 3 p.m. and released at 6 p.m. on her own recognizance.
Lynch was arrested again at 10:30 p.m. after police responded to the report of a disturbance at a downtown Oregon City fast-food restaurant. An employee said Lynch was pulling up plants, throwing rocks, and moving 70-pound boulders around the drive-thru area. A responding officer reported that Lynch was largely incoherent, had soil around her mouth and leaves from the bushes in both hands.
She refused to comply with an officer’s commands and resisted arrest. It took four officers to get her into a police vehicle for transport to jail, and she arrived at 10:44 p.m.
At the jail, it took several officers approximately 20 minutes to get Lynch out of the police vehicle because she refused to exit and had wrapped and entangled herself in the seat belts. Deputies noted Lynch appeared exhausted and was breathing heavily.
Once removed from the patrol vehicle, deputies attempted to transport Lynch to the booking area in a wheelchair, but she slid to the ground. When that failed, deputies used a restraint chair not for its intended purpose, but because it had an angled back and she could be wheeled to the booking area without her sliding out.
Initially, Lynch was not strapped in the chair, but she arched her back and kicked her feet, so the order was given to use the restraint chair for its intended purpose. Lynch defeated attempts to get her ankles strapped in the chair and spit in the direction of a corrections deputy. A waist strap was applied; she was handcuffed and wheeled to the booking area.
At the booking area, Lynch continued struggling. Deputies leaned Lynch forward to remove her handcuffs, but the key broke off in the lock, delaying the removal by approximately 60 seconds. At about that time, Lynch stopped resisting and became non-responsive.
Deputies began CPR, called for the jail nurse and requested an ambulance. An AMR medical team arrived and continued life-saving measures. Medical personnel announced her deceased at 11:42 p.m.
The investigation was based on witness interviews, statements from arresting officers and Corrections Deputies who engaged in the use of non-lethal force, Lynch’s autopsy and toxicology reports, training records for involved deputies and video footage from the point Lynch was taken into custody until she died.
“A careful review of all the surrounding circumstances and facts, compared to the relevant medical findings provided, leads to the conclusion that evidence of criminal negligence falls well below proof beyond a reasonable doubt as Lynch’s heart disease, the toxic amount of methamphetamine in her system and resistance to restraint unfortunately created the perfect storm of issues that night,” the investigation concluded.
The Milwaukie Police Department and the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.