CPD: Man dies while being questioned by police about Lawndale robbery

A man who died Monday evening while being questioned by Chicago Police about a robbery in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side has been identified.

Officers responded about 8:10 p.m. Sept. 4 to the 1600 block of South Pulaski for a man “who was being detained regarding a robbery,” according to Chicago Police.

The man became unresponsive during the investigation, police said. Emergency medical assistance was then requested.

Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Curtis Hudson said paramedics responded to a call of a “person down from unknown causes” in the street.

Romello Isiah Palmer, 21, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood.

An autopsy Wednesday did not immediately rule on cause and manner of death, with results pending further investigation, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Area Central detectives have opened a death investigation.