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Petersburg policeman died of heart attack when detaining violators

The incident occurred at around 21:30, Moscow time, on May 28

ST PETERSBURG, May 30 (Itar-Tass) — The Investigation Committee /SK/ said the death of the police officer after detaining violators in Petersburg occurred due to natural causes. The SK made the statement after running a pre-investigation check into the circumstances of the death of a special task force police officer in St Petersburg's Central Park on Yelagin Island on Monday.

"It has been ascertained that he had died of heart attack," spokesman for the SK department for St Petersburg Sergei Kapitonov told Itar-Tass.

Earlier, Kapitonov said the SK did not see a connection between the death of the 28-year-old policeman and his attempt to detain several men who were celebrating Borderguard Day in the Park. Mass media outlets citing police sources, had said the officer had been injured in a fight with former border guards.

"They did offer resistance but not to such an extent as to cause death," the spokesman said.

The incident occurred at around 21:30, Moscow time, on May 28. The OMON special task force police on patrol tried to detain a group of drunken young persons. A fight broke out, during which an OMON police officer collapsed. He died in an IT ward without regaining consciousness.