A man who died after reportedly fighting with deputies who were trying to arrest him died from injuries sustained in that fight, the coroner's office has ruled.
The ruling excludes other possible causes of death, such as drug overdose or heart attack, but does not mean the deputies were at fault, a spokesman said.
Rory McKenzie, 25, died July 2, after a woman flagged down a deputy and said she had been assaulted.
Deputies went to McKenzie's home and tried to arrest him.
"He resisted arrest,'' said Lt. Ed Komin with the Kern County Sheriff's Department.
"Force was applied, including a Taser, and one of our K-9s. After Mr. McKenzie was taken into custody and arrested it appeared that he was having trouble breathing. Deputies took the handcuffs off and began CPR," Komin said.
McKenzie stopped breathing and died a short time later.
The coroner says his cause of death was "sudden death during restraint by police."
The sheriff's department says it will conduct an investigation to determine if there was any wrongdoing.
Those involved in the incident were Sgt. Otis Whinery, Senior Deputy Doug Jauch, Deputy Ed Tucker and Deputy Patrick McNeal.
All four are still on active duty.
