Man Dies in Custody; Autopsy to Be Performed

A man died while in the custody of Long Beach police officers Sunday; an autopsy is expected to determine the cause of death, police said.

Officers responding to a 3:40 a.m. report of a person screaming found a man with a bleeding hand in the 2100 block of Pasadena Avenue. The unidentified man appeared to be intoxicated and became “belligerent toward officers and acting very erratically,” police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said.

After handcuffing the man, she said, police called for paramedics. As they examined him, he went into cardiac arrest and was taken to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where he was declared dead about an hour later, she said.