Man dies after altercation with Salt Lake City police as officers take him into custody

A man died Sunday after an altercation with Salt Lake City police officers as he was being taken into custody in the Granary District, police said.

The confrontation left two officers with “significant” but non-life threatening injuries, according to a news release.

At about 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, police received a report of “an attempted theft and disturbance” at a business near 300 West and 800 South, the release states. When officers located the man described in the disturbance near 356 W. 700 South, police said he fought with them as they attempted to take him into custody, injuring the officers.

More information about how the officers were injured in the altercation and what type of injuries they suffered was not immediately released.

After the man was arrested, he lost consciousness, according to police. Officers performed CPR and administered a dose of naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was soon pronounced dead.

The man who died had not been identified. His death will be investigated by an outside agency as part of an “independent, transparent and objective process,” according to a statement from Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown.

“I want to reassure Salt Lake City that the women and men of the Salt Lake City Police Department are professionals who have pledged to protect our community,” Brown’s statement continued. “During this incident, two of our city’s police officers were hurt. I’m grateful those injuries were not more serious.”

More information about the altercation, including whether the man was armed and whether police issued any commands as he was being taken into custody and, if so, whether the man followed them, was not immediately released.

Body camera footage of the altercation will be released 10 days after the man’s death on Sunday.

Last week, Salt Lake City police released body camera footage of the January arrest of Megan Joyce Mohn, 40, who died after being taken into custody, officials announced in July. The Utah Office of the Medical Examiner recently ruled her death a homicide, stating that she died of an “anoxic brain injury” due to “cardiac arrest” from “probable methamphetamine intoxication in the setting of an altercation involving physical restraint.”