5 Fort Worth officers fired after suspect's death in custody

Published: Jan. 16, 2019 at 7:22 AM CST
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Five Fort Worth police officers have been fired and two others have been suspended after a suspect's pleas for medical help while in custody went unheeded, leading to the man's death.

A police statement Tuesday says the officers answering the report of a prowler on July 26 arrested an armed man said to have been trying to break into a house.

While en route to the police station, the man began to complain about medical issues, but the officers kept him handcuffed in the back seat of a patrol car without medical aid.

Only when he was later found unresponsive did the officers summon an ambulance, and the man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner concluded the man died of cocaine intoxication.