The sudden death of a 46-year-old Dundee man who collapsed in police custody was probably triggered by his involvement in an altercation at a pub, a fatal accident inquiry has heard.
Forensic pathologist Dr David Sadler said stress from the incident was likely to have been the “acute event” that precipitated the cardiac arrest that led to the death of Alexander Ogg Wylie.
However, Mr Wylie had an underlying heart condition and his collapse could have happened, “suddenly, unexpectedly, at any time,” he added.
Mr Wylie, of Bellisle Drive, was one of five men detained after an alleged disturbance at the Lowdown bar in Seagate on December 27, 2009. He collapsed in the back of a police car and the inquiry has heard of the efforts of officers, ambulance staff and Ninewells Hospital medics to save him.
The cause of death was given as athero-sclerotic coronary artery disease, with minor blunt force injuries as a secondary factor.
Dr Sadler said Mr Wylie had bruises and abrasions on his body, including on his face, forearms and knuckles, but none of them was serious enough to require medical care.
He had been having treatment for a previous stroke, high blood pressure and kidney stones and the post mortem showed he had narrowing of the blood vessels of the heart, which would have built up over years.
The “mechanism of death” was probably the complete blockage of an artery by a flap of this plaque build-up, Dr Sadler went on.
He said the increase in blood pressure and pulse rate brought about by the “emotional upset and physical exertion” of Mr Wylie’s involvement in an altercation and the stress of being arrested were likely to have “precipitated death from a pre-existing natural disease.”
For that reason, the minor injuries could be viewed as a contributing factor, but the most important feature was the cardiac artery disease — a “fatal disease that was there, waiting to happen.”
At the end of the inquiry, Sheriff Tom Hughes offered his condolences to Mr Wylie’s family for their “tragic loss” and said he would issue his decision in writing in due course.