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Posted on 05/19/2006 10:09:52 PM PDT by SmithL
Andrew Martinez, the South Bay man who gained national notoriety as the ``Naked Guy'' when he insisted on walking around nude in Berkeley in the early 1990s, has died, the apparent victim of suicide.
Martinez, 33, died early Thursday after he was discovered unconscious in his cell at the Santa Clara County main jail.
He was found lying under the covers on his cell bunk, with a plastic bag tied around his head, said jail spokesman Mark Cursi. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Valley Medical Center.
Martinez, who had been in custody since Jan. 10, was last seen alive at 11 p.m. Wednesday by an officer making regular checks on inmates, Cursi said. The officer was called back to Martinez's cell at 11:19 p.m. when other prisoners reported hearing unusual sounds.
``He was in a maximum security area, where checks are made hourly,'' Cursi said. ``He was a high level security inmate because he had a history of assaultive behavior.''
Martinez, who was in the cell by himself, had been charged with two counts of battery and one count of assault with a deadly weapon, all felonies.
When he garnered headlines in 1992 and 1993, he was known as a gentle 6-foot-4 man who liked to attend class at the University of California at Berkeley in the buff.
Martinez grew up in Cupertino, where as a junior high school student, he refused to wear Nikes, Reeboks or designer clothes like other classmates, according to a relative in a 1992 interview.
He took his first nude walk about two years earlier along Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. In the fall of 1992, he organized a ``Nude-In'' on UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza against repressive clothing. It landed him appearances on a number of television talk and news shows. He was nude on most of the shows; on the ``Montel Williams,'' he wore a bikini brief.
It was when Martinez lengthened his strolls in the nude to the streets of Berkeley that the city famous as a haven for free expression adopted its first anti public nudity ordinance. And Martinez was the first to test it, being arrested on campus on Aug. 28, 1993.
Earlier that year, he was expelled from UC after school officials rewrote the campus dress code to ban nudity.
Martinez was identified by the Santa Clara County coroner's office on Friday afternoon. A family member who asked to remain anonymous confirmed that he was the man once known as the ``Naked Guy.''
The sheriff's office is investigating to confirm that Martinez's death was a suicide. It would be the first in the county jails this year. Two inmates killed themselves while in custody last year.
The bag Martinez apparently tied around his head was a see-through plastic bag used by inmates to carry their possessions when they are moved around at the jail, Cursi said.
``I'm sure they'll look at that,'' Cursi said, ``although I don't know what kind of alternative there would be.''
Cursi said Martinez ``had contact a couple of weeks ago with mental health'' but declined to provide any details. Martinez had not been under a suicide watch.
``It's unfortunate,'' Cursi said. ``It's unfortunate anytime there is a death.''
Does this get a Naked Crazy People Ping?
You certainly don't need my permission.
The naked Guy from Survivor gets 51 months in prison, now this..
word of advice to Naked Cowboy.. pay your taxes and keep the Hanes on. -}
Will he be clothed for his viewing at the Funeral home?
Photos please.
I don't know who owns that pinglist...
Is this your ping list?
I'm serious...
Cue "Twilight Zone Theme" music...
I guess they just weren't so keen on actually SEEING left wing "nuts"... er, in the flesh...
Interesting. He turned out not to be Mr. Harmless Happy-Go-Lucky Liberal, as he was portrayed in the media.
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"This is really strange... Out of the blue, on Wednesday, I had the sudden thought `I wonder what ever happened to the Naked Guy?'"
Me too.
lol
there is so much material here...just look at this!
has died, the apparent victim of suicide. ....like an SUV, it just sort comes out of nowhere and Boom!, you're gone.
Martinez...a gentle 6-foot-4 man who liked to attend class [where else?]...in the buff...had been charged with two counts of battery and one count of assault with a deadly weapon, all felonies.... ...a gentle, naked, giant, soul.
he was the man once known as the ``Naked Guy.'' ...and now known as what, #$%^&* ?
Cursi said Martinez ``had contact a couple of weeks ago with mental health''...I guess having contact with mental health just isn't enough...
The demons could no longer express themselves, with him being locked up in jail, so they drove him to death.
Acts 19
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Amazing that a guy would go to all that trouble just to reveal his shortcomings.
Naked is good...plastic bags on the head is bad...mmmm'kay?
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