No charges for those involved in Tulalip Reservation death

TULALIP, Wash. (AP) — Officers involved in a late-night struggle before the death of a Tulalip man in September will not face charges.

The Daily Herald reports that an autopsy determined 50-year-old Cecil Lacy Jr. died of a heart attack while struggling with two Tulalip Tribal Police officers and a Snohomish County sheriff's deputy on Sept. 18. Lacy was a member of the Tulalip Tribes.

Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe wrote in a letter Thursday that the officers' actions were legally justified.

Roe wrote that officers found Lacy in an apparent state of intoxication walking in the road. Lacy was told he wasn't under arrest but that he needed to get out of the road. As officers put him in patrol car to take him home Lacy started fighting. During the struggle, Lacy suffered a heart attack.