Authorities Tuesday publicly identified a man who died in police custody last week after apparently being stricken by some sort of medical emergency following a disturbance at the Cortez Hill-area apartment complex where he lived.
Wesley Garrett-Henry, 32, was pronounced dead at a hospital early Saturday, according to San Diego police.
A LinkedIn.com profile calls him a “retail associate at San Diego Rescue Mission.”
Ray Carroll, a friend of Garrett-Henry, told OnScene.TV that the victim was experiencing some sort of nervous breakdown and had heard him yelling and screaming.
Patrol officers responding to a report of a possible drug overdose in the 1400 block of Second Avenue shortly before midnight Friday found Garrett-Henry behaving in an “erratic” manner following an argument with a neighbor and “exhibiting signs of being under the influence of a controlled substance,” Lt. Andra Brown said.
Paramedics evaluated Garrett-Henry at the scene and decided to take him to a hospital, Brown said. While en route, he went into medical distress and lost consciousness, and lifesaving efforts by the ambulance crew and emergency-room doctors failed to revive him.
A ruling on Garrett-Henry’s cause of death remained on hold Tuesday pending autopsy results.
— City News Service contributed to this report.