Bell Gardens Man Dies After Being Hogtied by Police

A man who was charging into traffic on his bicycle died of an apparent heart attack Saturday, shortly after Bell Gardens police subdued him with hobble restraints for acting “erratically” and kicking officers who tried to arrest him, sheriff’s deputies said.

The name of the 30-year-old Bell Gardens man, believed to be under the influence of drugs, was not released pending notification of relatives. He suffered cardiac arrest and died as he was being taken by ambulance to Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, Deputy Benita Hinojos said.

Witnesses said the man began screaming and charging at moving cars on his bicycle along Gage Avenue at about 4:50 p.m.

When sheriff’s deputies and Bell Gardens police arrived 15 minutes later, the man spat and kicked several officers. After pinning the man face-down on the ground, police handcuffed him behind his back, used a flexible cord to bind his ankles and attached his ankles to his handcuffed hands. The man was still in the restraints in the ambulance when he suffered the heart attack, Hinojos said.

An autopsy is set for today or Tuesday, she added.

The use of such restraints by Los Angeles law enforcement officers has come under fire recently in connection with the deaths of several suspects, including the 1991 death of a man who was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department and died from “cocaine intoxication and asphyxiation from restraint procedures,” according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.