Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc
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Increasingly, police respond to confrontations in which the individual demonstrates violent and combative behavior as a result of drug-induced delirium. From medical, legal, and police documents, 61 cases of excited delirium decedents in police custody between 1988 and 1997 are analyzed. ⋯ In a majority of cases, acute cocaine toxicity and physical restraint in police custody were contributory to death. The literature is reviewed, analyses of case circumstances are provided, and recommendations for medicolegal investigators and police personnel are discussed.