Homicide ruled out in downtown death

Autopsy reveals head injury did not contribute to homeless man’s death|

Police have ruled out homicide in the death of a homeless man whose body was discovered on a downtown sidewalk last week.

A 911 caller reported finding Michael Lee Patton, 60, lying face down on the ground near the 24-Hour Fitness on B Street at Petaluma Boulevard, at about 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 16. Emergency responders discovered Patton unconscious and bleeding from the head.

He was transferred to Petaluma Valley Hospital where he was declared dead. Investigators said they did not know how the injury occurred or if it contributed to his death until an autopsy could be performed Monday morning by the Sonoma County Coroner’s office.

“According to the pathologist, (the head injury) was definitely not the cause of Mr. Patton’s death,” said Petaluma Police Sgt. Ed Crosby, who attended the autopsy. “The question of what precisely caused his death is yet to be determined. We can’t know for sure until toxicology results and other lab tests come back. Until then, we are just speculating.”

Crosby said Patton was known to police as a local transient who had numerous prior arrests over the last several years for alcohol-related offenses.

Police believe something caused Patton to fall, which caused the head injury. The autopsy showed he suffered from a variety of medical conditions, but until further tests are completed, they won’t know if any of them contributed to his fall.

Crosby said video footage captured downtown depicts some of Patton’s movements on the night he died, but nothing shows him during the time period when he suffered the head injury.

Patton is the eighth person to be found dead outside in Petaluma this year who was believed to be homeless. There have been 21 such deaths since 2010, according to Crosby. During the same four-year period, Petaluma police conducted 238 death investigations overall.

Crosby, who heads the department’s violent crimes unit, recently conducted a review of the homeless deaths since 2010 and discovered few similarities linking them, except that they may have shared common afflictions associated with long-term homelessness like substance abuse, exposure from living without shelter and untreated medical conditions.

Police continue to ask anyone with information about this case to call the department at 778-4415.

(Contact Elizabeth M. Cosin at eliz abeth.cosin@arguscourier.com)

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.