South Australian Police have confirmed the incident will now be investigated to determine whether the officers involved in the arrest acted appropriately.
Police responded to a number of calls from the public about two men, aged 41 and 17 respectively, fighting on King William Road, Adelaide, near Parliament at around 9.30pm last night.
“We know there was a fight going on for more than five minutes at this location,” Detective Inspector Brett Featherby said.
“It is obvious that the fight spilled over onto the roadway and as a result traffic came to a standstill.”
Officers arrived while the men were still fighting and they were both overpowered and arrested.
However, upon arrest, the 41-year-old became unresponsive.
Paramedics and police began CPR, but the man died at the scene.
Police determined the incident to be a death in custody.
Featherby said the actions of South African police officers will be reviewed to ensure they acted “in accordance with policy, process and law”.
The 17-year-old was taken to hospital with injuries from the fight and was subsequently not arrested by police, Featherby said.
Major Crimes and Ethical and Professional Standards detectives are investigating the incident.
The incident will be the subject of a criminal and coroner’s investigation.
“Last night’s incident is unrelated to recent gang activity in the city,” Featherby said.