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MURRAY — A man who died shortly after being arrested by Murray police died of natural causes, according to the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office.
The office announced Friday that the man's death does not fall under the definition of an "officer-involved critical incident," and thus will not be considered for any potential criminal charges against the officers involved.
On April 8, 2022, a Murray police officer attempted to pull over a Nissan Sentra. The driver, later identified as Sean Paul Masters, 52, pulled over in an apartment complex, 4950 S. State Street, but then ran after getting out of the car. Masters scaled a fence and crossed a small creek as the officer ran after him. He reached Intermountain Medical Center, 5121 Cottonwood Street, before giving up.
But shortly after placing him in handcuffs, Masters told the officer he couldn't breathe, went limp and became unresponsive. He was taken inside IMC to the Emergency Department, where he died a short time later.
Police did not believe there was anything suspicious about Masters' death; but because he died after being taken into custody, an officer-involved critical incident protocol was invoked.
An autopsy determined that Masters "died as a result of cardiac arrhythmia," according to Gill's report, and the arrhythmia developed "after he exerted himself while running from law enforcement" and also "in the setting of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and methamphetamine intoxication."
"While Mr. Masters' death occurred after he was taken into custody, we do not believe it likely that Mr. Masters' death resulted from any factor other than disease and/or natural causes," the report stated. Therefore, "Mr. Masters' death does not qualify as an officer-involved critical incident."
