Death in Tijuana Jail Investigated : Incarceration: North Hollywood man dies in police custody. Mexican authorities say he hanged himself, but family believes he was beaten.

Tijuana authorities are investigating the death of a 29-year-old North Hollywood man who died in jail less than an hour after Mexican police officers arrested him at a beachfront condominium for allegedly beating his girlfriend.

Relatives of Mario Amado believe he was abused by police and did not commit suicide by hanging himself with his sweater from window bars, as Tijuana police contend. The family said Wednesday that it wants a second autopsy performed in the United States.

Officials of the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana have called for an aggressive investigation of Saturday’s incident. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City filed a formal protest Thursday with Mexican federal officials concerning the failure of police to notify the consulate in Tijuana about the death.

“It’s strange that they did not notify us in this case,” Vice Consul Edward Stafford said. “We are usually notified of serious cases. . . . I think this is going to be pursued forcefully at the highest levels. It’s very rare for an American citizen in Mexico to die under detention.”

The Tijuana police chief said inquiries by his officers, the state judicial police and the coroner indicate that Amado killed himself.

“You have three different agencies that have looked into this,” said Luis Ortega Ramirez, director of security for the city of Tijuana. “The medical report shows no signs of violence. The death resulted from asphyxiation.”

The case is still being investigated by the Tijuana district attorney’s office, Stafford said, but the preliminary finding is suicide. Relatives say Amado had a drinking problem and had been despondent in the past, but they do not believe he would take his life.

“I suspect he was beaten to death and they finished him off by choking him,” said Amado’s brother, Joe. He said one of the Mexican doctors who examined the body told him there were internal injuries and asked if Mario Amado had been in a fight.

Joe Amado said he and his brother, who worked together in a family iron-working business, took their girlfriends late last Friday to Rosarito Beach, a popular tourist destination southwest of Tijuana. They stayed at a condominium that belongs to Patty Griffin, Mario Amado’s girlfriend.

Amado and Griffin spent most of the night and following day drinking and quarreling, the dead man’s brother said. Police say witnesses told them the couple also consumed marijuana and cocaine. Officers were summoned shortly before 4:30 p.m. Saturday after Amado struck the woman, police said.

Griffin then signed a complaint against her boyfriend and officers took him to the municipal jail nearby to be held until he could sober up and pay a fine, police said.

About 5:15 p.m., one of three other prisoners in Amado’s jail cell yelled to officers that Amado had hanged himself, Ortega said. He was found dead, Ortega said.