Man dies after being pepper sprayed by police

A man arrested by Alabama police died shortly after he was pepper-sprayed, and investigators are trying to figure out why.

A Tuscaloosa resident called police Friday night after spotting Anthony Dewayne Ware, 35, sitting on the front porch of a home with a gun, police said.

“Mr. Ware had an active warrant that had been verified for attempting to elude police,” Tuscaloosa police Asst. Chief Ronnie Dunn said.

When officers arrived, police said, Ware bolted and fled into the nearby woods.

“Officers chased him into the woods, and when the officers caught up to him, he resisted arrest,” Dunn said.

Police pepper-sprayed Ware, who continued struggling but was eventually handcuffed, Dunn said. But while officers were walking out of the woods with him, Ware collapsed.

Officers performed CPR and called for medical help, police said. But after arriving at a local hospital, Ware was pronounced dead.

A team of investigators from both inside and outside the Tuscaloosa Police Department has launched a probe into the death.

Dunn said the incident was captured on video, which will be released to the public “as soon as the Tuscaloosa County homicide investigators say it can be released without hindering the ongoing investigation.”