Arrested man dies in police custody

A 59-year-old Newport Beach man arrested by Costa Mesa police Tuesday

on suspicion of being drunk in public died Wednesday, officials said.

Police arrested Christopher Dixon Cook, 59, at about 5 p.m. Tuesday

when they found him passed out on a sidewalk in the area of Baker and

Bear streets, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney.

He was not wearing pants and “appeared to be extremely intoxicated,”

he said. Cook was arrested and taken to Costa Mesa city jail.

On Wednesday at about 5:50 a.m., a custody officer noticed Cook did

not “look too well,” Birney said. Cook was then taken to Hoag Hospital

Presbyterian, where he died shortly afterward, he said.

The Orange County coroner performed a preliminary autopsy, but those

tests proved inconclusive, officials said. They said more toxicology

tests will be conducted in the next few days.

The Orange County district attorney will investigate the case as an

“in custody death.” Officials declined to comment on the case till an

investigation is completed.