Man Dies After His Arrest Nude at Anaheim Carl’s Jr.

A naked, 37-year-old man, suspected of being under the influence of PCP, died apparently of a heart attack Monday night after officers arrested him at an Anaheim restaurant, authorities said Tuesday.

Police were called at about 11:30 p.m. about a nude man causing a disturbance in the parking lot of the Captain’s Quarters Motel on West Orangewood Avenue, Anaheim Sgt. John Haradon said. When they arrived, a man wearing only tennis shoes and white sweat socks, had entered a nearby Carl’s Jr. Restaurant on South Harbor Boulevard, and had gone behind the employee counter, he said.

The man, identified as Leonard Roy Tovar of Anaheim, resisted when police tried to arrest him, and four officers were needed to control him, Haradon said.

“The officers were standing back because of his violent behavior,” Lt. Peter DePaola said.

Police used an upper-body control hold to subdue Tovar, DePaola said. An officer placed his arm around Tovar’s shoulders from behind, while pushing Tovar’s buttocks forward, forcing him to drop to the floor, DePaola said.

Officers then handcuffed Tovar, tied his feet with a plastic tie and carried him to a squad car, DePoala said. The officers used “department-approved force to restrain him,” he said.

Tovar was unconscious and was not breathing when he arrived at UCI Medical Center, Haradon said. Hospital spokeswoman Elaine Beno said Tovar suffered a cardiac arrest in the hospital’s trauma room and died at 12:55 a.m.

The death is being investigated by the Anaheim Police Department, the district attorney’s office and the coroner’s office, Haradon said.

A corporate spokesman for Carl’s Jr. Restaurants, Shirley Bracken, said the store’s manager told her the man was naked but was not necessarily causing a disturbance. “All you have to do is have someone show up at your front door without clothes, and that is going to cause problems,” Bracken said. “We are a family restaurant.”