MONTREAL -- A 33-year-old man died Saturday morning after Sherbrooke city police intervened in an "altercation" and pepper-sprayed him, according to Quebec's police watchdog agency.
The BEI, the office that's tasked with looking into police-involved deaths in Quebec, has opened an investigation into the death.
The office said in a release Saturday afternoon that according to its early information, Sherbrooke municipal police were called to a local business around 6:15 a.m. because two men were having an "altercation" in front of it.
"When the police arrived at the scene, one of the men allegedly fled," said the BEI, which stressed that the information was preliminary.
"One of the police officers allegedly pursued and caught up with the man. The officer then reportedly used his can of cayenne pepper spray to subdue him."
The man appears to have lost consciousness at that point, and he was reportedly taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead around five hours later, at 11:36 a.m., the BEI said.
The agency has sent eight investigators to the scene and will be helped by Quebec provincial police in its investigation, it said.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
