Man's Death While Detained By Santa Rosa Police Under Investigation

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The death of a man while being detained Wednesday by Santa Rosa police has prompted an investigation under the Sonoma County Law Enforcement-Involved Fatal Incident Protocol, police said. The 54-year-old man whose identity was not immediately revealed appeared to suffer from an "unknown medical emergency" while handcuffed outside an office building at the corner of South E Street and Maple Avenue, Santa Rosa police said in a statement.

Officers first encountered the man at about 3 p.m. Wednesday when they were dispatched to the location when a passerby reported seeing a man punching the glass doors of the building, police said. Two officers arrived and allegedly saw the man break a window.

The officers were able to detain the man in handcuffs without incident but as the scene was being investigated, the man "appeared to be suffering from an unknown medical emergency," police said.

An ambulance crew responded to the scene and took the man to a hospital, where he later died, police said.

Based on the circumstances, a county policy was invoked and the Petaluma Police Department took over as the lead agency in the investigation of the incident.

Thursday morning, Patch was unable to immediately reach the Petaluma police sergeant assigned to the investigation.

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