By Police1 Staff
LOS ANGELES — A porn actor died five days after an altercation with police inside an ambulance.
The incident began as authorities responded April 8 to an attempted suicide call and found Marland Anderson, known professionally as Sledge Hammer, with an apparent knife wound.
Anderson – who was reportedly in a agitated state — was handcuffed to a gurney for transportation in an ambulance, where he tried to stand up but “moved with such force that he broke the gurney free from a floor lock and broke the handcuff,” The Los Angeles Times reported.
An officer riding in the ambulance restrained and used a TASER to try to subdue the subject, but he continued to resist, Lt. Andrew Neiman said. The Taser may have made contact with the leg of another officer, who complained of being hit with prongs.
Police called for backup, and officers, now outside the ambulance, again confronted the 6-foot-1, muscular man.
“Six to eight [officers] eventually managed to control him,"Neiman said.
Anderson, who reportedly had been dealing with depression, anxiety and a mild form of schizophrenia, was conscious when he was taken to a hospital by ambulance, where he lost consciousness and died Friday, five days later.
The death is under investigation by the LAPD and autopsy is expected this week. The extent of Anderson’s self-inflicted knife injuries were not reported.