Death in custody at Marbella's local police headquarters is under investigation

A man died on Wednesday night while in the holding cells at Marbella's main Local Police station. He was being held there for allegedly attempting to assault an officer responding to a report of a disturbance in a bar in San Pedro Alcántara. The investigation is ongoing, pending the results of a forensic examination to clarify cause of death.

The 092 emergency call centre for Policía Local received a call shortly after 7:00pm reporting two people "kicking off" in a local bar. A patrol car was dispatched to the scene and asked the suspects to identify themselves. According to municipal sources, one of them allegedly attempted to assault the officers and was subsequently arrested.

Due to the man's agitated state, presumably caused by the consumption of alcohol andd/or drugs, the same sources explain that he was taken to the local health centre, where he was given medication. Police then transferred him to the holding cells at police headquarters while they investigated the case and handed him over to the National Police.

It was at approximately 11:00pm, during shift change for police officers, that they noticed the detainee had gone into cardiac arrest and officers proceeded to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The 061 medical emergency call centre was also alerted, but they were ultimately unable to save the man's life, as reported by 'Málaga Hoy'.

Next, the judicial committee - comprising of duty judge, court clerk and medical examiner - was mobilised to remove the body and transfer it to the institute of legal medicine (IML) in Malaga, where an autopsy will be carried out to establish cause of death.