Vadim Valenteychik, a 54-year-old resident of Furness Place in Palm Coast, died today at the Flagler County jail following an arrest on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, in a release, suggested the death was likely the result of alcohol poisoning.
Valenteychik leaves behind a 17-year-old son. Before his divorce a little over a year ago, he had been associated with his wife in a family daycare center. He had frequently struggled with financial difficulties over recent years.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to a vehicle crash just before 10 a.m. on Thursday on Corporate Drive in Palm Coast. Valenteychik told deputies he’d driven his 2023 Kia over a curb and struck a business there. Deputies noticed that he might he impaired. He told deputies he’d had one beer, though he was swaying, and could not complete field sobriety exercises. A 25-ounce can of beer was on the floorboard of his car.
He was arrested and at his request taken to AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway, where at 11:44 and 11:46 a.m. Valenteychik took two breath tests. The first produced a reading of 0.325 blood-alcohol level, the second, 0.340, according to his arrest report. The legal limit to drive in Florida is 0.08.
The sheriff’s release states he was released from the hospital with medical clearance more than six hours after arriving there, booked at the jail and placed in a single-person cell, where inmates under observation are typically held.
“Throughout the night,” the release states, “deputies conducted regular checks and shortly after 6 a.m. Friday morning, a detention deputy entered the cell and found Valenteychik unresponsive. Deputies and detention facility medical staff immediately began life saving measures, including the use of an automated external defibrillator while waiting for Flagler County Fire Rescue. [Paramedics] later pronounced Valenteychik deceased.
Sheriff Rick Staly requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement independently investigate the death, following which the Sheriff’s Office will conduct its own internal investigation “ to ensure all policies and procedures were followed,” the release states. “In addition, a clinical medical review is being conducted by the jail’s medical provider as required” by the contract with the sheriff.
“Sadly, it is not uncommon for local jails to house inmates with significant health issues related to illicit drug and alcohol use,” Court and Detention Services Chief Dan Engert is quoted as saying in the release. “Losing a loved one is never easy, especially so unexpectedly. We extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time.”
Valenteychik’s is the third death of an inmate since 2019, the first at the jail itself. In September 2023, an inmate found hanging in his cell died five days later at a local hospital. In 2019, an inmate who had been ill and complaining of fevers at the jail was brain dead soon after he was taken a local hospital, where he subsequently died. His death prompted a change in medical provider at the jail, though that provider was subsequently replaced by PrimeCare Medical, the current provider. The jail earned a health care accreditation in 2024.
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