The coroner’s office was working to determine the cause of death of a porn actor who died after an encounter with police and paramedics.
Marland A. Anderson, known in the adult movie industry as Sledge Hammer, died early Friday.
Police and paramedics were sent to a Reseda address the night of April 8 on a report of an attempted suicide and found Anderson with a knife wound, police said.
His girlfriend told police he tried to hurt himself, and she took the blade away from him, police said.
Anderson was handcuffed to a gurney but, once inside the ambulance, he struggled, breaking the gurney free of a floor lock and the handcuff free of the gurney, police said.
An officer used a Taser on Anderson, but it failed to stop the agitated actor, police said.
Several officers eventually managed to restrain Anderson, police said.
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Anderson, 39, was born in Seattle and went to high school in Mission Viejo, the website XBIZ reported.
Since 1995, he had made about 800 movies.
Director Stoney Curtis said he understood Anderson had mental problems and was having an anxiety attack when girlfriend Alexa Cruz, also an adult performer, called 911.
He told XBIZ that, once inside the ambulance, Anderson wanted out. Paramedics let him out but called for police, who Tasered him. He was taken off life support at Northridge Hospital Medical Center about 5 a.m. Friday.
Erica Sullivan, 25, a friend of Anderson's for 10 years, said he was a soft-spoken, well-mannered man.
“He was the most kind, sweet, adorable human being you could ever ask for,” she told NBC4 in a phone interview Sunday. “It was not within him to harm another being.
“He was beloved by so many people.”
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