DENVER — A critical incident investigation has been initiated to find out how a 43-year-old man died at Denver Health Sunday after police said he suffered "an apparent medical event" and stopped breathing while in custody after he was arrested for violating a restraining order.
The Denver Police Department said officers arrested the man after they responded to a report of a person violating a protective order at 3737 N. Quebec St., which is a former hotel that has been converted into housing. They said the restraining order "was related to a prior felony menacing by the suspect at the same location." The caller told police the man had "removed an ankle monitor he was required to wear."
The call to police came in at 8:47 a.m. Sunday. Police responded to the Quebec location by 9:19 a.m. and said they found an ankle monitor in the alley. That's when police said they tried finding the suspect, who had entered a unit in the building.
Officers found the suspect around 9:32 a.m. and used "a minimal amount of force (an arm control hold) to handcuff the suspect and take him into custody," police said in a news release.
More than an hour after the man's arrest, at around 10:46 a.m., is when, police said, the officer taking him to jail realized the man was "experiencing a medical issue in the back seat of the patrol car."
According to a news release from police, the officer stopped the patrol car on the way to the jail and called paramedics and three other officers who were involved in the man's arrest to the location where the car was stopped, at 29th and Champa streets.
Officers removed the man from the patrol car to figure out what kind of medical event he was having, police said. They said the man was conscious and standing at first, but was "minimally responsive."
Police said soon after the man exited the patrol car he became unconscious, and police performed CPR when he stopped breathing. Officers administered naloxone in case the man was having an opioid-related overdose, but they said the naloxone had no effect.
Paramedics from Denver Health arrived to where the officer stopped the patrol car and took the man to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:12 p.m. The coroner's office will identify him and determine how he died.
Police said "There is evidence the medical event and subsequent death may be narcotics related."
The police department said the release of information about the incident "is not intended to imply that officers’ actions played a part in the death."
Police said the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Colorado State Patrol, Office of the Independent Monitor and Denver District Attorney’s Office are involved in the critical incident investigation.
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