MONTEBELLO — A coroner’s examination of the body of a man who died in police custody after struggling with officers and getting shocked with a Taser in May was unable to determine exactly how he died, attributing the death to a combination of drug intoxication, “agitated behavior” and being restrained by police, according to a coroner’s report released this week.
Guillermo Pablo Cedano, 44, of Montebello died at a hospital following a May 17 confrontation with Montebello police officers outside his home in the 1000 block of Carob Way, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s and sheriff’s officials.
Upon completion of the coroner’s examination, Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Lawrence Nguyen determined, “The cause of death is multiple drug intoxication combined with agitated behavior and multimodal restraint,” according to the autopsy report. The specific manner in which police restrained Cedano was not specified.
But the autopsy and subsequent toxicology tests failed to determine the mode of death, such as accidental or homicide.
“The manner of death is undetermined,” Nguyen wrote in his report.
Cedano suffered from an enlarged left ventricle in his heart, though the condition was not found to be directly related to his death, according to the autopsy report. Coroner’s investigators also noted the discovery of a “mild” brain bleed and two fractured ribs.
According to the coroner’s report, Cedano himself called 9-1-1 shortly after midnight and reported “someone was outside of his home to hurt him,” coroner’s investigator Kelly Yagerliner wrote. Police arrived and encountered Cedano outside of his home.
“He turned around to fight and police Tased him twice,” Yagerliner wrote. “The decedent pulled a probe out and charged at police. A physical altercation occurred and he was subdued.”
Neighbors reported hearing police tell Cedano repeatedly to show them his hands.
One of the involved police officers suffered a broken arm in the struggle with Cedano, according to deputy Aura Sierra of the Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau.
Cedano was then found to be unresponsive and was taken by ambulance to Beverly Hospital in Montebello, where he was pronounced dead, according to sheriff’s and coroner’s officials.
Toxicology tests found the presence of methamphetamine, amphetamine and phentermine in Cedano’s system.
“According to the decedent’s wife, she had left the house with the children because she was concerned about his behavior and paranoia,” Yagerliner wrote in the autopsy report. “He had a history of rock cocaine addiction but had been clean for the past ten years. He recently lost weight and was reportedly taking diet pills, but she said he seemed to be back on drugs.”