Death of Arrested Man Is Ruled a Suicide

The death of a man who fell from an 11th-floor balcony of a Sherman Oaks hotel moments after being arrested and handcuffed was a suicide, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

Police investigators and the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office ruled that Darren Mark Gertz, 26, of West Hills intentionally jumped from the balcony at the Valley Hilton about 1:30 p.m. Friday, Police Detective Jim Vojtecky said. Gertz fell six floors to the roof of a wing of the Ventura Boulevard hotel and was killed instantly.

Gertz had just been arrested by U.S. Postal Service inspectors on a warrant charging him with mail theft, Police Detective Don Tabak said. He was suspected of stealing mail containing credit cards and then using the cards to make purchases.

Police said Gertz had previously stayed in the hotel and employees found stolen mail in his room after he checked out. Last week, hotel employees recognized him when he returned and alerted authorities. Postal inspectors set up a surveillance on his room from a nearby hotel room, police said.

On Friday, the inspectors watched Gertz and his brother, Bryan Gertz, 23, of West Hills enter the room and then moved in to arrest Mark Gertz, Tabak said. The postal inspectors discovered Bryan Gertz was wanted on an unrelated theft warrant and also arrested him, the detective said.

The brothers were placed in the inspectors’ room while their own room was searched. One postal inspector was in the room with them when Gertz jumped up from a chair, ran through an open sliding glass door and leaped over the side of the balcony.