MTA: Man Dies After Struggle On Bus With Officers
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A 67-year-old man died after a struggle with Maryland Transit Administration police. It happened Tuesday morning in North Baltimore.
Derek Valcourt explains the case is now under investigation by city police.
It happened by a bus stop. The man apparently suffered a massive heart attack as he was being taken into custody.
The cell phone video shows police on the scene in the 1100-block of Cloverdale Road early Tuesday morning.
"They had the whole street blocked off and I just pulled up in between them and started recording," said Patrick Shaffer, who works nearby and saw some of the aftermath.
An MTA spokesperson says Antonio Moreno apparently boarded a bus #5 and began striking a bus driver and another passenger on the bus with a cane. That's when MTA police were called.
"And when they tried to restrain him, he went into cardiac arrest. They immediately offered CPR. He responded and they took him to Maryland General Hospital for treatment," said Paulette Austrich, MTA.
In fact, Shaffer says he saw the man apparently alert and sitting up on a stretcher after the heart attack.
"They was putting him on the ambulance. I thought he was alright. I thought he was the injured one but I guess he wasn't," Shaffer said.
Three hours after his arrival at Maryland General Hospital, Moreno apparently suffered another major heart attack and died.
"There are cameras on the bus and right now, MTA police are currently trying to obtain the video of the incident to aid the investigation," Austrich said.
An MTA spokesperson says Moreno did have a prior history of emergency petitions, meaning he may have been involuntarily hospitalized for mental health reasons.
City police are now conducting an independent investigation into Moreno's sudden death.
The officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative duties while their actions are under investigation to make sure they were following proper procedures.
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