A Kansas man who fought police in a Frisco hotel and was injected with a sedative temporarily stopped breathing during his arrest Wednesday night and remains in critical condition, authorities say.
The 39-year-old man, whose identity was not released, was taken first to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center, and then to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver, said Amy Stoehrmann, Frisco police spokeswoman.
Police were called to the Summit Inn about 10:30 p.m. on a report that the man was exposing himself and acting erratically.
The man reportedly resisted arrest, at one point trying to take a gun from a police officer’s holster, Stoehrmann said. The man also bit, kicked and spit at officers, she said.
“He was still combative and yelling erratically when paramedics arrived,” Stoehrmann said.
The man was given a sedative, Haloperidol, to calm him, but it did not take effect immediately, she said. The suspect continued to fight the officers and paramedics for several minutes.
As Summit County paramedics and officers put the man on a gurney, though, they noticed he was not breathing and immediately administered CPR, Stoehrmann said.
The paramedics appear to have followed the ambulance service’s established policy of administering the sedative to calm a person “behaving in a manner that poses a threat to their own well-being or others’.”
But the drug also can disrupt heart function, especially when coupled with other depressants, including alcohol, in what is known as a toxic-interaction effect.
“You can’t know what kind of drugs someone is on. You still have to proceed with the type of restraint which seems most appropriate at the time,” said Michael Conner, a Bend, Ore., psychologist considered an expert in the use of chemical restraints by police.
The Frisco Police Department is investigating the arrest, and a toxicology report is pending.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
