Man Dies While Being Subdued

A 31-year-old man who barricaded himself naked inside an Old Town motel room died Monday afternoon following a scuffle with San Diego police officers, authorities said.

The unidentified man, who a few hours before had tried to check himself into the nearby San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital, died at 2:55 p.m. in the emergency room of Sharp Cabrillo Hospital.

San Diego Police Sgt. Michael Davis said the man died after four officers placed him in a carotid restraint hold while the man’s hands and feet were handcuffed. Hospital officials refused to comment on the cause of death late Monday.

The hold involves an officer using his arm to cut circulation to arteries in the neck.

“He was acting irrationally,” said Davis. “He was running around nude.”

The standoff began at 12:41 p.m. at the Old Town Budget Inn in the 4400 block of Pacific Highway when officers were flagged down by a security guard and told of a man who had just left the mental hospital was acting suspiciously.

The man barricaded himself in a vacant room of the motel. Moments later, officers entered the room to find the man “sitting naked on the toilet, frothing at the mouth,” Sgt. Davis said.

Officers reportedly placed the man in the neck hold while his hands and feet were handcuffed, police said. Officers at the scene applied resuscitation after the man lost consciousness.

The four officers were being interviewed to determine if correct departmental policy was followed during the arrest, Davis said.

Patrick Stalnaker, a spokesman for the psychiatric hospital, said a man entered the out-patient ward requesting treatment Monday morning but ran from the office before doctors could speak to him.

“This man was not a patient at our facility,” he said. “It’s like someone entering a hospital emergency room and leaving without being treated. It’s that simple.”