Man dies after altercation with Oxford police

Oxford police say that an unidentified man passed away this morning after they arrested him for causing a disturbance at a car lot.

A X26 taser is what Oxford Police Chief Bill Partridge said was used on a man in his 50s breaking into cars at a local dealership.

"We received a call through 911 at 9:06 am this morning to Pressley Auto Sales of an irate individual busting windows out of a car. He actually...[rammed] his fist through the driver's window to get into the vehicle," said Chief Partridge.

Chief Partridge said when officers got on scene the man wasn't in the right state of mind.

"He was very incoherent, sweating profusely apparently he was trying to take his clothes off inside the vehicle," said Chief Partridge.

Officers tried to get the man out of the car he broke into.

"They attempted to bring him out of the vehicle which they could not do because he had a death grip on the steering wheel," he said.

An officer then started to reach for his stun gun and that's when the man got out on the passenger side and started running towards the officer.

The officer used his stun gun on the man, and he was taken to the ground.

"Once they got him and cuffed him he started going into respiratory arrest," said Chief Partridge.

Chief Partridge said emergency crews performed CPR while en route to Regional Medical Center where the man was pronounced dead just before 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Police say the man had a Georgia license plate and they're working with Jasper County Sheriff's Office in Georgia to try to identify him.

His body will be sent to Huntsville for an autopsy.

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