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Police: Suspect in SLC Ace Hardware shoplifting incident has died

Posted at 5:16 PM, May 07, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-07 19:16:58-04

SALT LAKE CITY – A man accused of shoplifting at an Ace Hardware Store has died after two employees and two witnesses tackled him in the store parking lot Thursday evening, police said.

On Tuesday, police identified him as 30-year-old Mischa Ryan Cox.

According to Salt Lake City Police, Cox and the four others involved were struggling with one another when police arrived at the store, which is near 400 South and 600 East.

Those employees and bystanders had caught up with the man in a parking lot and tackled him, police said. Some sort of struggle ensued. Police arrived and found Cox on the ground, and they handcuffed him.

That’s when officers realized he was already in bad shape.

“Officers immediately noticed at that time that the individual was having some medical issues from being detained by those witnesses, we believe, and at that point we immediately called for medical and began doing CPR on that individual,” Det. Michael Ruff of Salt Lake City Police said.

Cox was taken to a hospital in critical condition. The incident is considered an officer-involved critical incident because the man was in police custody before being treated by medical personnel. The incident will now be investigated by Unified Police.