Man Dies After Slashing Self, Fighting Police : Arrest: Distraught suspect resists officers while cutting body, authorities say. Taser darts and a baton blow to the chest are used to subdue him.

A distraught 27-year-old Van Nuys man who barricaded himself inside his apartment and slashed himself with broken glass died Monday after seven Los Angeles police officers subdued him with Taser darts and a baton blow to his chest, authorities said.

Officers fired four Taser cartridges at David Martinez, said LAPD Detective Bill Holcomb, whose officer-involved shooting squad is investigating the case. Authorities and witnesses agreed that three of the electric darts struck Martinez while he lay on the floor. They said Martinez was bleeding profusely and sawing at his throat with a large piece of glass taken from a window that he had broken.

The coroner’s office has yet to determine what caused the death of Martinez, who was confronted by police in his Van Nuys apartment about 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

Holcomb said that paramedics told him Martinez was having “heart problems” in the ambulance. Holcomb said the paramedics speculated that Martinez died of heart complications and massive bleeding.

Martinez died in the emergency room of Valley Presbyterian Hospital at 12:47 a.m., about 80 minutes after police first encountered him, hospital spokesman Steve Sibilsky said.

Holcomb said the officers responded properly and legally. “They did it the way it’s supposed to be done, without a lot of baton,” Holcomb said. “The guy was extremely violent.”

Officers struck Martinez once in the chest with a baton to stop him from destroying the apartment and cutting himself with the glass, Holcomb said.

Police forced their way into Martinez’s bloodstained living room after being summoned by the manager of the apartment complex in the 6600 block of Sepulveda Boulevard.

Residents at the apartment complex portrayed Martinez, said to be upset over marital problems, as a “walking time bomb.” Friends said he rampaged through his apartment--smashing windows and demolishing furniture--for nearly an hour after brooding for much of the day over the state of his marriage. Several said they were convinced that Martinez, about six feet tall and weighing 210 pounds, intended to commit suicide.

Deborah Martinez and the couple’s 3-year-old daughter were not at home during the incident. But Martinez’s wife returned to the apartment Monday afternoon with several friends. Her companions shielded her from questions, saying she was too distraught to talk.

Art DeSoto, a friend and neighbor, said Martinez frequently became violent when confronted with stressful situations.

“He was very possessive, very jealous and very impatient,” DeSoto said. “He was like a little kid. When he couldn’t deal with things, he went off.”

Martinez tried to keep the officers out of his one-bedroom apartment by propping a chair under the doorknob and then attempting to force them out physically. DeSoto said police responded with force only when it became apparent that Martinez would not cooperate.

“The police, what they did was right,” DeSoto said.

Holcomb defended the officers’ use of force in the incident, saying their conduct conformed to the department’s policy of using Tasers when oral commands and pain compliance techniques such as wristlocks fail.

“They used good judgment,” Holcomb said.

Used routinely by police to subdue suspects and jail inmates, the Taser fires a dart charged with 50,000 volts of electricity that temporarily stuns and immobilizes its target. In 1991, police used the Taser 59 times, 75 times less than they did in 1990, they said.

Seventeen people in Los Angeles County have died after being shocked with Tasers between 1983, when the coroner’s office began documenting such cases, and 1989, officials said. None of those deaths could be directly attributed to the Taser, although it was found to be a contributing factor in two.

None of the officers involved in the incident has ever appeared before a police disciplinary board for any reason--including the use of excessive force, said Officer Bill Frio, an LAPD spokesman.

Involved in the incident were Sgt. Jorge Pardo, 41, with 11 years on the force; and Officers Troy Williams, 28, three years; Gary Levy, 28, six years; Tom Stepan, 40, seven years; Danny Chau, 24, two years; Charles Coleman, 26, two years, and Honor Henry, 33, slightly less than two years.

The officers will remain on regular duty while the incident is investigated, said Lt. John Dunkin, a police spokesman.

Times Staff Writer James Quinn contributed to this story.