In domestic violence cases, suicide is a sometimes reality both among victims and among perpetrators. The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that a 33-year-old Vancouver man who had been hospitalized after a suicide attempt in jail committed suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of a medical center in Vancouver, Washington.

The man had been arrested on August 16 by Vancouver police and under investigation for domestic violence. After his attempted suicide in jail, from which he suffered injuries from a fall, he was taken to a local medical center and remained unconscious until early Tuesday morning.

According to a spokesman from the medical center, the man used a small table to break his room window and jumped out despite attempts to prevent him, despite the fact that the window glass is thicker to meet strict standards for withstanding earthquakes. The man died after landing on the roof of the third floor. First responders were not able to save him.

A spokesman from the facility said the suicide was the first at the facility in the 13 years she'd been there. Sources indicated that four inmates have committed suicide in the jail since 1998. The medical center will be conducting its own investigation into the incident. The sheriff's Major Crimes Team and the Medical Examiner's Office are also investigating.

Vancouver police had been investigating the man on charges of second-degree domestic violence assault and fourth-degree domestic violence assault, though sources didn't indicate any details about the domestic violence investigation.

Source: The Columbian, "UPDATE: Jail inmate who jumped from hospital window identified," John Branton and Paul Suarez, August 23, 2011.