LONG BEACH : Suspect Dies After Police Use Pepper Spray on Him

A burglary suspect died Thursday after Long Beach officers doused him with pepper spray and placed him in a patrol car with his wrists and ankles restrained, a police spokesman said.

The man, whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives, died at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center at 1:30 a.m., an hour after he was arrested, said Long Beach police spokesman Josef Levy.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death, he said.

Officers sent to a restaurant at 52nd Street and Orange Avenue on a report of a burglary found the man inside the closed business and ordered him to come out but he refused, Levy said.

The man “ran to the front of the restaurant where he began to break out the front glass doors with a fire extinguisher,” Levy said.

The suspect then allegedly began swinging the fire extinguisher at the officers. He ran into an alley, where the officers sprayed him with pepper spray two or three times before tackling him, Levy said.

The man was placed in the back seat of the police car, and officers prepared to bring him to a hospital for examination, Levy said. But a few minutes later, the officers noticed that the man was having trouble breathing. They summoned paramedics, who took him to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where he died.