Cop suspected of manslaughter after homeless man dies following arrest

A police officer is now under suspicion of causing the death of a 68-year-old homeless man arrested in Amersfoort, Utrecht last week. The homeless man was taken into custody for public intoxication at about 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 17, and the officer is accused of pushing him hard into a jail cell in the same city later that evening.

The homeless man died on Wednesday, the public prosecutor said in a statement.

The prosecutor said the suspect was not cooperating when he was pushed. He then fell and hit his head, the prosecutor's office confirmed.

It is the second person taken into custody in Amersfoort to die this month in a jail cell. A man arrested in a traffic stop on January 15 in the city died of cocaine poisoning a day later, the prosecutor said. He was being held at a detention center in Houten where he fell ill, and died at the hospital.