Steven Brown

Less-than-lethal force

Steven Brown reportedly collapsed and died after fighting with several officers following a foot chase. Police were called to Brown's home on Ashwell Drive, but no one was there. Brown was then seen running down the street, and police received a complaint of someone entering a home around Mackenzie and Heege. Officers caught Brown and said that he thrashed around as they tried to take him into custody. A police spokesman said Brown displayed "unusual strength," requiring multiple officers to subdue him, but that they didn't hit him with batons or other objects. Brown's mother said she went to the morgue to view her son's body. "His face was all beat up with knots and bruises all over," she said. "It looked like somebody beat the hell out of him. "The police said he ran into a fence, twice, and fell down." Dr. Phillip Burch, who performed the autopsy, said he couldn't determine a cause of death until completion of toxicology tests. "There were numerous signs of blunt trauma--contusions, lacerations, abrasions--about the head and face, but they were too superficial to cause his death," Burch said. According to his mother, Brown had probably taken LSD, which caused his irrational behavior.