BALTIMORE (AP) - A man was hospitalized in critical condition due to an unidentified “medical injury” following a confrontation with Baltimore police, a top law enforcement official said Monday.
The man was stopped at 9 a.m. on Sunday by four officers on bike patrol, said Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez. The man tried to run from the officers but was ultimately detained and arrested, Rodriguez said. He said a short video that shows only a portion of the confrontation had been reviewed by the department’s force-investigation unit, and did not reveal any use of force by the officers.
“The individual attempted to flee and was able to run as we attempted to make a detention of him,” Rodriguez said. “This individual was not able to run when he was transported by ambulance to the hospital. That’s what we’re trying to investigate: What exactly happened. What actions or inactions may have contributed to this.”
Rodriguez said the situation is under investigation, and that all evidence will be turned over to the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office “for potential criminal conduct.”
The four officers involved have been placed on routine administrative assignment, Rodriguez said.
The deputy commissioner would not elaborate on the nature of the man’s injuries or say how long he was in police custody before going to the hospital. He said he did not believe any stun guns were deployed during or after the man’s arrest. He did not say whether any shots were fired. Rodriguez said he believes the officers did at one point use “additional restraints” on the man. He did not elaborate.
“What we know today is that the officers apprehended an individual,” Rodriguez said, “and at the end of that encounter the individual was suffering from a medical injury.”
Rodriguez also would not say why the man was stopped. He has not been charged with a crime.
Neither the man nor the officers involved have been identified.
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