A 35-year-old black man died in police custody in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Friday, after he was pepper-sprayed by police and collapsed while in handcuffs shortly after.
Tuscaloosa police said in a statement published Saturday morning that they were responding to a 911 call on Friday evening that said Anthony Ware was “sitting on the front porch of a residence” holding a firearm.
Six officers were involved in the incident. Ware was pursued into a nearby woods, where he was apprehended after being sprayed with OC (pepper) spray. Officers began administering CPR after Ware collapsed, according to the Tuscaloosa police department.
He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10.42pm on Friday.
Local media reports said no gun was recovered from the scene. Reports also said three of the officers who pursued Ware were white men, one was a black man, one was a white woman and another was an Asian woman. Ware was wanted on a warrant for attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, according to police.
Pepper spray is used by police departments around the country to subdue suspects. It is designed to irritate the eyes, causing tears, pain and potentially temporary blindness.
The death is being investigated by the Tuscaloosa County homicide unit, which is made up of officers from the Tuscaloosa police department and officers from other departments in the county.
According to The Counted, a Guardian investigation counting police killings in the US throughout 2015, Ware’s death was the 10th in Alabama following encounters with law enforcement this year. Five of those who have died after law enforcement encounters in the state have been black. African Americans make up only 26.6% of the state’s population, according to 2013 census data.
At a press conference on Saturday Tuscaloosa assistant police chief Ronnie Dunn said police body camera and dashboard camera footage of the incident would be released “as soon as investigators say it can be released without hindering the ongoing investigation”.
Local news reported that by Saturday, none of the six officers involved in the incident had been placed on leave.
Tuscaloosa police did not respond to a request for further comment from the Guardian.
