Prisoner convicted of assaulting officer dies The...

Prisoner convicted of assaulting officer dies

The son of a wealthy Riverside County potato grower died Saturday

while serving a state prison sentence for assaulting a Newport Beach

Police officer and driving drunk.

Jeffrey Wayne Minor, 36, was rushed to a hospital Saturday from

the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, said

Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of

Corrections. Minor was having difficulty breathing, Thornton said.

Minor died at the hospital at 10:05 p.m. Saturday, she said.

Officials at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed

his death but said the cause had not yet been determined.

Minor was serving a 10-year sentence for assault on a police

officer and driving under the influence.

His sentence stemmed from a December 1998 drunken driving

incident.

A Newport Beach police officer pulled Minor over near Fashion

Island on suspicion of drunken driving. He took off in his Porsche,

dragging the officer and slightly injuring her.

Minor fled to Italy after posting the $100,000 bail but was later

extradited.

In 1993, he pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and driving

under the influence of alcohol following an accident that killed a

Hemet man.

Minor’s family owns Agri-Empire Corp., one of the nation’s largest

potato growers. His father, Wayne Minor, owns a Newport Beach car

dealership.

UCI student dies after jumping from building

A UC Irvine student committed suicide by jumping off a nine-story

building on campus last month.

A custodian found the engineering student’s body at the foot of

the building early March 21, said UCI Police Chief Al Brown. The

death occurred during finals week, Brown said.

Foul play is not suspected, Brown said.

Last year, a 19-year-old student committed suicide by jumping from

an outside stairway in the Social Sciences building, Brown said. That

death happened at the end of the fall quarter, he said.

-- Marisa O’Neil