The Associated Press reported that five police officers have been fired and two others have been suspended for their roles in a suspect's death.

The terminations and suspensions came from the suspect pleading for medical help, and the officers ignored the man's pleas which led to his death.

A police statement released Tuesday said, "The officers answering the report of a prowler on July 26 arrested an armed man said to have been trying to break into a house. While en route to the police station, the man began to complain about medical issues, but the officers kept him handcuffed in the back seat of a patrol car without medical aid. Only when he was later found unresponsive did the officers summon an ambulance, and the man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner concluded the man died of cocaine intoxication."

 

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