Police say a 35-year-old man died after he got into a struggle with four police officers on Thursday and that an autopsy will be carried out to determine his cause of death.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Anton Rahming, said officers at the Fox Hill Police Station went to the cell block to retrieve a male suspect, whom they did not name, who was being housed there. ‘Upon doing so, the officers, with the intent to take him to court, took him from the cell, and as they did so, this individual began to resist the officers stating that he wished not to go to court,’ Rahming said, adding that as the officers attempted to handcuff him, he held onto one of the officers.
Rahming said officers who were also present at the station came in to assist the transporting officers and defuse the situation.
‘Eventually, as they subdued him, they realised that he became unresponsive. At this point, the officers contacted the EMS personnel who came to this location. They examined the individual and determined that he had succumbed at the station here,’ Rahming said, telling reporters that the man, who had been in the police station for two days, was being held for burglary.
Rahming said that none of the police officers were injured during the altercation and that the man had showed no signs of aggression earlier in the morning, had no illnesses or health issues on file by the police, and there were no visible injuries to his body before he became unresponsive.
He said an autopsy will be carried out to determine his cause of death.
‘Madam Coroner, she has been informed, and she will be conducting a further investigation, and certainly an autopsy will be done to help us determine what was the cause of death,’ Rahming added.