'Combative' bus passenger death probed

SURREY, British Columbia, July 2 (UPI) -- The death of a "combative" man three days after being arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Surrey, British Columbia, was being probed Wednesday.

An unidentified man in his 20s was arrested Friday after a Surrey bus driver radioed transit police for help, saying a passenger was acting erratically, The Province newspaper in Vancouver reported Wednesday.

RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow said the man "was acting aggressively toward transit police" and "at that point he became very combative enough to the point where police were involved."

When RCMP officers arrested the man, he went into "medical distress," Morrow told the newspaper.

The man was in critical condition until Tuesday, when he died, the report said.

Police wouldn't disclose whether alcohol or drug use was suspected in the man's death, but said officers had not used an electronic stun gun.

The RCMP has been criticized by a federal watchdog agency in recent weeks for its use of the Taser-brand guns following several deaths of suspects.