FORT LAUDERDALE - A Lauderdale Lakes man who fought with several people and bit a bystander died after Broward County sheriff's deputies used pepper spray on him.
Derek T. Kendrick, 36, died at Broward General Medical Center at 3:30 p.m. Friday, sheriff's spokeswoman Liz Calzadilla said. An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause, and homicide detectives were investigating.
Sheriff's dispatchers received a call around 2:30 p.m. about a man who was "down in the street" and behaving erratically, she said.
When deputies and paramedics arrived, they found Kendrick struggling with several neighbors who were trying to hold him down, Calzadilla said.
He "was extremely combative, and when deputies got closer to try to restrain him, he turned and bit a bystander," Calzadilla said.
The deputies used their spray, and Kendrick was hospitalized. "Given his erratic and combative behavior, we wanted him to be evaluated," Calzadilla said.
He died while being treated by medical staff, she said. Calzadilla declined to give specifics about Kendrick's physical condition when he was taken to the hospital, citing medical privacy laws.
Kendrick's sister, Doreen Kendrick, 37, said the behavior was unusual for her brother.
"I don't think they needed to spray him like that," she said. "If he was on something, the police should have known not to do that to him. It's not safe."
