BREAKING NEWS

Man dies after being arrested by Phoenix police officers

Julie Luchetta
Arizona Republic
A Phoenix police cruiser.

A man died while in Phoenix police custody early Friday morning, police said.

Phoenix police officers responded to a call reporting a man running in the middle of the street near 7th Avenue and McDowell Road around 1 a.m., Sgt. Vincent Cole, spokesperson for Phoenix police, said in a news release.

According to authorities, the man was nude and acting 'erratically.'

Cole said that the man, whose identity was not released, did not comply in their attempts to get him off the road. Officers then handcuffed him, placed a restraint around his legs and placed a spit mask over his head.

Spit masks are mesh bags, also called 'spit hoods', used to prevent people from biting or spitting while being apprehended.

Police at the scene requested additional help and several more officers arrived, Cole said. 

Paramedics then arrived on scene to assist the man, at which point he became unresponsive, police said. The man was transported to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The cause of death is being investigated by the department, Cole said.

According to Sgt. Andy Williams, spokesperson for Phoenix police, a critical incident briefing video, which typically contains body camera footage, will be released in two weeks.

According to an analysis from The Arizona Republic, eight other people have died at the hands of Phoenix police since the beginning of 2021 — one while they were held in custody and seven after being fatally shot.

The use of spit hoods as a form of restraint has been condemned by several human rights organizations.

Amnesty International condemned its use following the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old unarmed black man who suffocated while in police custody in March 2020 in Rochester, New York. Prude was apprehended by law enforcement on March 23, 2020, after he ran away from his brother's house naked and acting erratically. 

Officers held Prude face down and put a mesh hood over his head shortly before he lost consciousness. He was then taken to a hospital where he died a week later.

Locally, in April 2020, 27-year-old Carlos Ingram-Lopez died in Tucson Police custody while wearing a spit hood and handcuffed lying face down. The Pima County Medical Examiner concluded after an investigation that Ingram-Lopez's death was the result of a "sudden cardiac arrest in the setting of acute cocaine intoxication and physical restraint."

Reach breaking news reporter Julie Luchetta at jluchetta@arizonarepublic.com.

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