THE ARREST of a man who died shortly after being restrained using pepper spray is to be the subject of an investigation by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.
Mark Ward, who was in his 30s and from Dundalk, died in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda at 10.30pm on Tuesday.
An hour earlier gardaí were called to the scene of an incident at a shop in the Green Acres area of Dundalk.
Mr Ward was naked and distressed. He became unwell and was taken by ambulance to hospital.
One local woman, who did not wish to be named, said: “I heard there was a naked man running up the road on Tuesday evening and he was agitated.
Apparently he went into the shop and had no clothes on and the gardaí were called,” she said.
“It is terribly sad. My heart goes out to the man’s family.”
A man who lives in the area added: “I heard sirens on Tuesday evening but did not see anything. It is a shocking situation.
“I was told he went into the shop naked and the gardaí were alerted.”
The Garda Ombudsman’s office was alerted and several officers from the commission went to the scene late on Tuesday night.
Both Avenue Road and Green Acres were sealed off yesterday.
A postmortem on Mr Ward was due to be carried out yesterday by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.