Police Investigating Man's Death After Altercation With Pueblo Hospital Security Personnel

PUEBLO, Colo. (CBS4) -- A 36-year-old man's death following a fight with hospital security personnel is now being investigated as a homicide by the Pueblo Police Department, the agency announced Friday afternoon.

Mathew Haskel Jones passed away at a Colorado Springs hospital on February 18, eight days after PPD officers responded to a 6:30 a.m. disturbance call at St. Mary Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo.

Officers found medical personnel giving aid to Jones following a physical altercation with security staff.

Pueblo PD investigators initially classified the incident as a suspicious death. That classification changed to homicide after the Pueblo County Coroner's Office completed its autopsy and reported back to police investigators.

The coroner concluded Jones's death was a homicide - that is, in the coroner's definition, the death was caused by another person.

The job of the police department will be to determine if the incident meets their definition of a homicide - if there is criminal intent or conduct in the act of causing Jones's death.

Details about why Jones was at the hospital and what precipitated Jones's altercation with hospital security were not made available to the public. Nor were the nature of his injuries and death explained.

"This is still an open investigation," said PPD Sgt. Frank Ortega. Additional details will be provided, he said, as the investigation advances.

CBS4 reached out to Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter with a request for details. He declined as well, citing the active police investigation.