A drug suspect has fatally shot himself in the head in the back of a Colorado police patrol car.
It is not clear how the 33-year-old came to have a loaded gun despite apparently having been searched.
The unnamed man was arrested on Tuesday afternoon in Colorado Springs for alleged possession of methamphetamine.
While in the back of the cruiser he either managed to slip out of the handcuffs or maneuver his hands from behind his back to the front, according to local media.
The deputy noticed he was holding a gun to his head and threatening to kill himself.
She got out of the vehicle and called for backup, triggering a standoff lasting several hours.
The authorities were only able to talk to the suspect via the radio in the patrol car, though they could not hear what he was saying.
A crisis negotiator communicated through a Spanish-speaking translator with the man, on a mobile phone delivered to him by a robot.
But he later fired a single round into his head.
El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page: “It is with great sadness we report the suicidal suspect who was transported to the hospital via AMR with a self-inflicted gunshot has succumbed to his wounds.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family during this very difficult time.”
The sheriff’s office is investigating the incident.
It is highly unusual for police to overlook any weapons while frisking a suspect.
But in March last year a 22-year-old man died from a gunshot wound in the back of a police cruiser in New Iberia, Louisiana.
A coroner later ruled he had shot himself.
(c) Sky News 2015
