Huntington Station Man Dies After Fleeing Police and Being Handcuffed, Suffolk Police Say

A 62-year-old Huntington Station man died after he ran from Suffolk County police officers at a town park on Tuesday and was later found unresponsive once he had been handcuffed, the department said.

Police identified him as Victor Santos of Huntington Station. In a release issued Wednesday, the department said Homicide Squad detectives are investigating his death and that the office of the state Attorney General has been informed.

Officers from the Second Precinct Anti-Crime unit were patrolling Alfred J. Walker Memorial Park, 33 West 11th St., at about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, the department said. They approached Santos, and he ran. Police said the officers recognized him, and a check of records showed he was wanted on a parole warrant.

At 1:50 p.m., about 30 minutes after he ran, officers were still searching close to the South Huntington Water District, 75 5th Avenue South, police said. Witnesses there directed them to a grassy spot where Santos had been hiding.

One officer ordered him not to move, police said. Officers then handcuffed Santos as he lay face down. When they turned him over, the department said, he was unresponsive. Officers started CPR, gave him Narcan and used an automated external defibrillator, according to the release.

Santos was brought to Huntington Hospital and pronounced dead there.

The police release gave no cause of death. It also did not describe the basis for the parole warrant.

As of Wednesday evening, the Attorney General's office had posted no press release about the case, and the web page for its Office of Special Investigation, the unit that handles deaths possibly caused by police, listed no announcement concerning Santos.

The office describes the unit's authority on its website. Under Section 70-b of the state Executive Law, OSI has investigative power and criminal jurisdiction in cases where a police or peace officer caused a death, or where it is unclear whether one did. When it is notified of an incident, the office says, OSI must determine whether three elements are present: a death, an officer covered by the law, and an act or omission by that officer that caused the death.

When causation is uncertain at the outset, the office says, OSI conducts a preliminary assessment, a process it says often takes months and can include video, medical files, and autopsy and toxicology results. If any element is missing, OSI closes its file and sends a letter returning the matter to the district attorney of the county where the incident took place.

If OSI goes forward with a full investigation, the office says, it must end the case in one of two ways: by securing a grand jury indictment, or by publishing a report that explains why it did not take the case to a grand jury. The office also says its policy is to release body-worn and dashboard camera footage in cases within its jurisdiction in a timely manner, without waiting for an investigation to close, subject to redactions for privacy and other legal limits.