American national arrested for malicious mischief dies

CEBU, Philippines - A 51-year-old American national who was detained at the Fuente Police Station died a day after he was arrested for alleged malicious mischief.

Mark Gerard Pikl, a native of California who was staying at a hotel in Cebu City, died at the Cebu City Medical Center around 8:35 p.m. on Thursday

According to Senior Inspector Peter Hartzel Bellido, Chief Officer of the Fuente Police Station, Pikl was arrested for unjust vexation and malicious mischief for allegedly destroying doors and barging into other rooms of the hotel.

Pikl was detained at the police station for about a day.

Bellido said he noticed that Pikl was acting wild and they had a hard time controlling him because of his behavior inside the police station.

Bellido said that around 7:55 p.m., Police Officer 2 Alexander Cabral Terado, desk officer on duty, was about to get the fingerprints of Pikl when Terado noticed that Pikl was having difficulty breathing.

The police called the Emergency Response Team of Sambag II whose personnel then administered first aid on Pikl.

After getting Pikl’s vital signs, the first aiders brought him to the CCMC, but the American national was declared dead on arrival.

Bellido said they are still trying to contact the US consul who is still attending APEC gathering in Manila.

He added that they will conduct further investigation into Pikl’s medical history and will wait for result of the autopsy to determine the main reason of his death. — Angelica Libodlibod, USJ-R Intern/ATO (FREEMAN)