Detainee Had Balloon in Throat, Autopsy Finds

Autopsy results determined that a 21-year-old Wilmington man who died last week after he was pepper-sprayed and handcuffed by police had a balloon lodged in his throat that apparently contained drugs and contributed to his death, the county coroner’s office said Tuesday.

Daniel Ramirez, 21, stopped breathing and died about 30 minutes after he was chased and held by police in a San Pedro housing complex parking lot.

Ramirez’s girlfriend and father charged that LAPD officers caused the death by dousing Ramirez with pepper spray and failing to summon an ambulance as soon as the man began choking. Neither witnessed the event.

But coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said it is likely that the balloon lodged in Ramirez’s throat contributed to the death.

Final tests determining the cause of death have not been completed, Carrier said. But initial reports indicate, he said, that the balloon contributed to the death. It was 2 1/2 inches long and half an inch wide.

“The balloon was unbroken and contained five small rocks that we haven’t analyzed yet,” he said. “But we suspect it to be rock cocaine.”

According to police and the county probation department, two Harbor Division gang officers and a probation officer saw Ramirez last Wednesday afternoon in a section of the Rancho San Pedro Housing Community near West 1st and Mesa streets. Officers tried to talk to him 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 he had stopped breathing and called an ambulance.