Investigators believe drugs lead to a fatal seizure after foot pursuit
The Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO, Ill. — Chicago police officials were investigating the death of a man in police custody Saturday after a foot chase in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago’'s West Side.
Tony Green, 22, of the 600 block of North Mayfield Avenue was pronounced dead at 11:55 a.m. in Mt. Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’'s office. An autopsy was scheduled for Sunday.
Green allegedly ran from two Chicago police tactical officers after they saw him near a vacant lot on the northeast corner of Pulaski Road and Van Buren Street, said police spokeswoman Monique Bond. He was arrested after a short chase and began to suffer a seizure within minutes, she said.
Bond said investigators believe that either before or during the chase, Green swallowed drugs he was carrying, leading to a fatal seizure.
Janesa Jackson, 39, of the 3900 block of West Van Buren Street said she and other residents of her apartment building were sitting on the front porch about 11:15 a.m. when they saw Green running eastbound on Van Buren.
“He looked like he lost his wind,” Jackson said. “He stopped at 3926 [W. Van Buren St.] and then he threw his hands up against the gate. The cop grabbed him by the collar and the waistband, slammed him up against the fence, then slammed him to the ground.”
Jackson said she could see that the officer, who was joined by his partner seconds later, was saying something to Green as he handcuffed him and put him in a police car. The officer then drove to the lot where the chase began.
Jackson said that she saw an ambulance arrive at the lot five minutes later, and that she and her friends went to see what happened.
“We saw them taking the boy out of the police car and put him in the ambulance,” she said. “He wasn’'t moving -- he didn’'t look like he was alive.”
Bond said the department’'s Office of Professional Standards was investigating the case.
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