UPDATE: Yolo County coroner’s officials have identified the man who died while in Davis police custody as David Elwood Shurtz Jr., 54, of Sacramento.

An autopsy was conducted, but no cause or manner of death determined pending the results of toxicology and other tests, Chief Deputy Coroner Gina Moya said Friday.

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Authorities are investigating the in-custody death of a 54-year-old man that occurred following a violent struggle with officers early Thursday morning at a South Davis hotel.

Davis Assistant Police Chief Darren Pytel said the man, whose identity has not yet been released by the Yolo County Coroner’s Office, stopped breathing after being placed in handcuffs inside a room at the La Quinta Inn & Suites, 1771 Research Park Drive.

An autopsy was planned for today to determine his cause of death, Chief Deputy Coroner Gina Moya said.

Pytel said officers were summoned to the hotel at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday “regarding a male subject screaming ‘let me out,’ and the sounds of breaking items” inside an upper-floor room. He also reportedly made statements regarding a gun.

Several officers responded to the scene and, being trained in crisis intervention, attempted to verbally coax the man out of the room, according to Pytel. As the man continued to speak, “some of the statements led the officers to believe there was another person in the hotel room,” he said.

So when the verbal communications failed, officers, concerned someone could be at risk, breached the door.

“An immediate confrontation ensued where the individual violently resisted being taken into custody,” Pytel said, describing a scenario in which six officers were “literally tossed around, punched and kicked” as they attempted to bring the man, who was alone in the room, under control.

During the scuffle, officers handcuffed the man, who was lying on the floor when he suddenly stopped breathing, Pytel said. He died despite the CPR efforts administered by medical personnel who had already staged at the scene.

The assistant chief disclosed this morning that the man caused “significant” damage to the hotel room, including smashing the bathroom mirror, ripping out the sink and shower walls, punching large holes in other walls and destroying a door.

Pytel said the death, his agency’s first in-custody fatality, is being investigated by officers from the Davis and Woodland police departments, the Yolo County Coroner’s Office and the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, as is routine protocol.

The six involved officers have been placed on temporary administrative leave as that process gets under way. Pytel said four of them sustained minor injuries during the struggle, including bruising, strains and soreness, and one complained of a wrist injury for which he was treated at Sutter Davis Hospital.

“It was a very tense situation,” Pytel said today. Although Davis officers are trained to de-escalate such episodes, “there are times when people don’t respond to officers, despite their best efforts. This was one of those cases.”

Investigating officers remained at the scene as of early Thursday afternoon. Hotel personnel had placed “no media allowed inside” signs on the front doors, and an employee who answered the phone said the general manager was not available for comment.

It was not immediately known whether the man was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but Pytel said that will be part of the ongoing investigation into the incident. He said the man is believed to be from the Sacramento area.

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene

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