A 22-year-old man suffering a medical episode in East Harlem died amid a lengthy delay getting him to a local hospital, police said Monday.
Two police calls for an ambulance were not answered, the NYPD said, with officers waiting 41 minutes before finally rushing him on their own to Harlem Hospital, where he died. It wasn’t clear why the delays occurred.
At 5:13 p.m. Saturday, a 911 caller described a man who might have overdosed and appeared to be emotionally disturbed at E. 116th St. near Lexington Ave. in East Harlem, police said.
When officers got to the scene at 5:40 p.m., the man was having trouble breathing and acting erratic, police said.
At 5:44 p.m., cops called for an ambulance but FDNY medics didn’t show up so officers called again at 6:05 p.m., NYPD officials said.
At 6:25 p.m., the cops gave up and put the man in their patrol car, driving him to the hospital themselves.
They got him to the hospital at 6:29 p.m., police said. He died at 6:56 p.m.
The man, whose name was not immediately released, has no arrest history and no documented history of drug use, a police source said.
The NYPD Force Investigation Division is reviewing what happened because it is considered a death in police custody.
The FDNY did not immediately respond to questions about the incident.