Freddie M. Neely

Less-than-lethal force

Police responded to an east side Sunoco gas station at about 5:30 a.m. after a clerk reported a man was insisting that he needed to "hide" behind the counter and wouldn't leave. Police said the first officer at the scene was unable to restrain the man, but two other officers arrived a couple of minutes later and they were able to forcibly remove him. According to police, the man became violent and began vomiting while officers tried to restrain him. He was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly before 6 a.m.