Man suspected of pushing teen onto Metro tracks suffers medical emergency and dies in police custody

A man suspected of pushing a teenage boy onto the Metro Red Line tracks Wednesday morning died after being taken into custody by officers, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police responded to a report of an assault about 9:20 a.m. at 5th and Flower streets in downtown Los Angeles. When officers arrived, they found a man being detained by a group of construction workers, LAPD Officer Mike Lopez said. Police took the man into custody, using what they described as less-than-lethal force — firm grips and body weight.

Meanwhile, at Pershing Square, transit officers notified LAPD of an incident they think involved the same man who had just been arrested.

Police said the man had fled the Red Line station at 5th and Hill streets after he pushed a 14-year-old boy onto the tracks. Bystanders helped pull the boy onto the platform before the train arrived, which officials said was less than a minute away.

The man then fled and got into a fight with a construction worker, police said. He was detained by other workers until authorities arrived.

After being taken into custody, the man suffered a medical emergency and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Lopez said.

Los Angeles police detectives are now investigating the death of the man, who was described as being in his late 20s.

Lopez said the Los Angeles County coroner’s office would determine the man’s identity as well as his cause of death.

The attack at the Red Line station was eerily similar to an unprovoked assault two weeks ago, when a man was shoved into a street, where he was struck by a truck and seriously injured.

Prosecutors have charged 41-year-old Garrett Joseph Boldt with attempted murder in that case.

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