Mentally ill man, 23, dies in custody

A DISTURBED young Melbourne man, who had to be restrained by up to six police officers, has died in custody.

Emergency services were called to a Meadow Heights home at 2.10am (AEST) today to deal with a mentally ill 23-year-old man who had self-harmed.

Superintendent Jack Blayney said the man’s parents were in the house but were uninjured.

“He’d burnt his hand in boiling water, he was acting irrationally and clearly suffering from some mental health issue,” he said.

“He was (verbally) aggressive towards the police. They were concerned there was going to be physical confrontation so he was taken into custody for his own safety.”

The man was handcuffed with his hands in front of him and put in the back of a divisional van, to be taken to the Northern Hospital.

“Enroute, the male was behaving very violently and banging his head against the internal walls of the divisional van. He was also removing his clothes,” Supt Blayney said.

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