The city medical examiner ruled that the death of a man in police custody who was high on PCP when NYPD cops busted him was a homicide, authorities Friday night.
Ronald Singleton, 45, was arrested after he cursed and screamed in the back of a cab near St. Patrick’s Cathedral on July 13, 2014, cops said.
He fought with cops who responded to the cabbie’s plea for help and was placed in a protective body wrap and put in an ambulance for a trip to Bellevue Hospital for a psych exam.
But on the way, he went into cardiac arrest and the ambulance rushed him to Roosevelt Hospital, which was closer, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The ME said Friday that Singleton’s death was caused by the “physical restrain by police during excited delirium due to acute [PCP] intoxication,” cops said.
Hypertension, heart disease, and obesity were contributing factors, the ME said – adding that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office will investigate the case.
This was the second NYPD arrest-related death that was ruled a homicide this month.
A Staten Island man whose death during an arrest for selling loose cigarettes inflamed racial tensions against the NYPD was the victim of a “homicide” by chokehold, the Medical Examiner’s Office ruled in early August.
Eric Garner, 43, died of a “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police,” the office said in announcing the autopsy results.
But the 350-pound Garner’s poor health, including “acute and chronic bronchial asthma; obesity; hypertensive cardiovascular disease,” were also “contributing conditions” to his death, it added.
Garner, a married African-American father of six, was suspected of selling “loosies” by cops, who surrounded him on Bay Street on Staten Island on July 17.
Their takedown of the man was captured on cellphone videos.
Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white, held Garner in a chokehold — which is banned by the NYPD — as the suspect struggled and repeatedly yelled, “I can’t breathe!”
Pantaleo, who is on modified duty, has not been charged with a crime. It will be up to Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan Jr. to decide whether to convene a grand jury.
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