Autopsy results for alleged shoplifter will take a while

COEUR d'ALENE - It will be several weeks before anyone is certain why an alleged shoplifter died after scuffling with a loss-prevention officer at a Coeur d'Alene store.

Coeur d'Alene police said 35-year-old Andrew M. Dearmin fled from the Super 1 Foods store at Kathleen Avenue and was pursued by the store employee on June 17.

Dearmin was caught and held by the employee near Sunset Motors, police said.

He was not breathing when police arrived on scene. Officers performed CPR and Dearmin was taken to Kootenai Health, where he died a short time later.

It could take 10 weeks from the autopsy date to get official results on the cause of death, Lynn Acebedo, Kootenai County's chief deputy coroner, said Monday.

That is the standard wait time for an autopsy with toxicology work, she said. She didn't know the date of the autopsy.

The autopsy was conducted by the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office.

A representative for the medical examiner's office said Monday it takes an average of 10 to 12 weeks for the toxicology test results to be returned. She declined to provide the date of the autopsy.

PAML, a laboratory in Spokane, is conducting the toxicology testing.

A spokeswoman for the Coeur d'Alene Police Department didn't respond Monday to a request for additional details.

Dearmin died approximately 40 minutes after police were called to the scene following a report of two men fighting.