Man Dies After Struggle With Police

Autopsy results will determine how a 21-year-old man died after he was chased, pepper-sprayed and handcuffed by police in a housing complex parking lot, the Los Angeles Police Department said Thursday. Daniel Ramirez of Wilmington stopped breathing and died Wednesday at San Pedro Peninsula Hospital, about 30 minutes after he was chased and held by police.

The dead man’s girlfriend and father charge that officers caused the death by dousing Ramirez with pepper spray and failing to summon an ambulance as soon as the man began choking. Neither actually witnessed the event. According to police and the county probation department, two Harbor Division gang officers and a probation officer saw Ramirez at 4:25 p.m. in a section of the Rancho San Pedro Housing Community near the corner of West 1st and Mesa streets. Officers tried to talk with the Ramirez but he ran, police said. The officers chased him and handcuffed him after a struggle, according to police.

“They used pepper spray to little or no effect,” said Lt. Anthony Alba. Sometime after placing Ramirez in handcuffs, officers saw that the man had stopped breathing and officers called an ambulance.