A Connecticut man died from an apparent heart attack Wednesday night during a struggle in which he allegedly bit a state police trooper tearing flesh from his arm, authorities said.
A Massachusetts State Police trooper working a paid detail near the Allston/Brighton tolls spotted the 47-year-old man wandering on a Turnpike ramp. The trooper directed the unidentified man off of the ramp and another trooper arrived to help. That’s when the struggle started.
According to the Suffolk district attorney’s office, which is investigating the incident, the man became aggressive and started fighting with the troopers.
“In the course of the altercation, the man bit one trooper, removing a large chunk of flesh from his arm,” the Suffolk district attorney’s office said in a statement.
The troopers used pepper spray to subdue the man.
During the incident, the man went into cardiac arrest. Troopers performed CPR and called for an ambulance, authorities said. However, the man was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton.
Authorities are investigating.
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