Coroner Says Injuries Did Not Kill Suspect

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has determined that a driver who fled police and was forcibly removed by neighbors did not die of those injuries, but the cause of David Elliott’s death still has not been determined.

Elliott, 31, who police said was high on drugs, took off into the neighborhood after they tried to stop him for erratic driving near the West Valley police station on Vanowen Street.

Elliott ran to a nearby house where frightened residents probably hit him and carried him out of their house, police and coroner’s officials said.

But Craig Harvey, a coroner’s spokesman, said the injuries to Elliott’s head and legs were not life-threatening.

Toxicology tests are being conducted and results probably will take about four weeks, Harvey said.

Police investigators said that Elliott was apparently on drugs and that he made irrational statements and even bit one of the officers while they were trying to take him by ambulance to a hospital.

Police said his head was bleeding profusely; Elliott died at the hospital.