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Authorities on Wednesday identified a man who died outside a Gaslamp Quarter bar last weekend and two officers who responded to the scene.
The dead man, Gabriel Jesus Garza, 40, from San Diego, according to a news release from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, had been removed by security following a disturbance inside Star Bar on E Street and allegedly had bitten a guard on the arm during the altercation.
The police officers are Jacob Phipps and Noah McLemore. Both have been employed by the San Diego Police Department for over four and a half years and are assigned to Central Division Patrol.
The first officer arrived – sheriff’s officials don’t say whether that was Phipps or McLemore – arrived outside the bar shortly before 8:20 p.m. Saturday.
That officer handcuffed the struggling man, whom the guard and another individual had been restraining on the ground, and requested that the San Diego Fire Department come to the scene to evaluate Garza.
An additional officer secured the man’s legs. Medics were on scene by 8:26 p.m., sheriff’s officials said, but soon discovered that Garza was unresponsive and without a pulse. He was transported to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
The Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on Monday and continues to investigate the cause and manner of death.
Under the terms of a 2022 countywide agreement, the sheriff’s Homicide Unit leads investigations into in-custody deaths involving the SDPD.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Homicide Unit at (858) 285-6330 or after hours at (858) 868-3200. Those with information may remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.