A 37-year-old man who died 12 hours after struggling with a pair of Los Angeles Police Department anti-gang officers died from the “effects of cocaine,” but he also suffered “physical and emotional duress” from his arrest, according to an autopsy released Tuesday.
The autopsy of Omar Abrego, who died around 5:20 a.m. Aug. 3, was completed in October, but was not made public until Tuesday. His death has been cited by some activists as an example of excessive force by police.
Abrego was arrested around 5:45 p.m. Aug. 2 in the 6900 block of South Main Street, police said. Sgts. Robert Calderon and Jeff Mares were flagged down by a bystander who told them about the driver of a white vehicle, which they later spotted being driven recklessly and nearly hitting a pedestrian in a crosswalk, police said.
After the vehicle stopped, Abrego got out and tried to flee, but was taken into custody during “a physical altercation,” according to the LAPD.
One of the officers suffered a broken hand and the other a knee injury. They were treated at a hospital and released, police said.
Abrego was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, where he eventually died.
The autopsy report notes that Abrego’s strange behavior the night of his arrest was due to “cocaine intoxication.”
“However, there is a temporal relationship between the arrest maneuver and death which complicated the acute cocaine intoxication, therefore the manner of death is deemed homicide,” according to the report.
— City News Service