Man dies of ‘medical emergency’ while detained in Sacramento traffic stop, police said

Sacramento Police announced Tuesday afternoon they’d launched a death in custody investigation after a man died of a “medical emergency” while he was detained during a traffic stop in north Sacramento.

The man, who has not yet been identified, was detained by a uniformed police officer at 1:39 a.m. Tuesday when he didn’t make a complete stop at a stop sign, police said in a news release.

The officer saw a red pickup truck fail to make the stop and followed it, but before the officer could pull the man over, he pulled into the driveway of a Ben Ali home in the 1800 block of Glenrose Avenue. The officer approached the man when he got out of the truck, asking him for his driver’s license, but the man said he didn’t have one. Instead, he handed the officer an identification card, police said.

The man spoke Spanish, so the officer directed the man in Spanish to sit on the bumper of the patrol vehicle while he did a records check, according to the release.

About three minutes later, while the officer was sitting at the computer in his patrol vehicle, the man collapsed and fell to the ground, police said.

“The officer exited his vehicle to check on the driver’s health and recognized he was having a medical emergency,” the release said.

The officer rendered aid and called for assistance from the Sacramento Fire Department.

Additional officers responded and performed CPR until fire personnel arrived and transported the man to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, police said.

Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators later responded to the scene.

“Due to the driver having a medical emergency while detained by the Sacramento Police Department, a death in custody investigation was initiated,” police said.

Since the incident falls within the city policy mandating release of audio and video in major incidents, the department will release bodycam footage within 30 days.