Man dies in Pittsburgh police custody after witnesses reported him walking through traffic on Route 51

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A man died in Pittsburgh police custody early Friday morning after he went into cardiac arrest while being treated by paramedics, authorities said.

Allegheny County police, which is leading the investigation, said the man had been walking in and out of traffic along Saw Mill Run Boulevard/Route 51, and witnesses said he had gotten dragged by a vehicle before police arrived.

As paramedics treated him, the man went into cardiac arrest, and he was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to police. The medical examiner on Friday night identified him as 29-year-old James Richard Brown Jr.

Pittsburgh police had received reports of a man going in and out of traffic on foot along Saw Mill Run by the intersection of Bausman Street at about 2:45 a.m. Friday.

They said he had been driving on Bausman Street and parked his vehicle in a parking lot in the 800 block of Saw Mill Run before he started walking. He left the vehicle running, and it drifted into a building, police said, and he then approached multiple vehicles as he walked along Saw Mill Run.

Witnesses said he had tried to enter a pickup at the intersection of Bausman and Saw Mill Run near the city’s Bon Air and Beltzhoover neighborhoods before the driver of the truck drove away and dragged the man, police said.

As police approached him at the intersection of Saw Mill Run and Warrington Avenue a few minutes later, he tried to get in a police cruiser and, according to police, did not comply with officer commands.

Police said he was taken to the ground and placed into custody, and officers saw wounds to the man’s head and apparent road rash on other parts of his body. When medics arrived, he went into cardiac arrest.

Allegheny County police spokesman Jim Madalinsky said no weapons were used in taking the man into custody, and the man was conscious when medics arrived.

Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman Emily Bourne said two officers involved were placed on paid administrative leave, per the department’s protocol.

County police’s homicide unit is investigating at the request of Pittsburgh police. No charges had been announced.

Anyone with information is asked to call the county police tip line at 833-255-8477.