Mario Marin, who was arrested Dec. 28 after fighting with churchgoers at City Lights Dream Center in Santa Ana, died while undergoing a mental health evaluation, authorities
divulged a week after the 53-year-old homeless man's death.
When Santa Ana Police officers arrived that day, Marin was already pinned down by congregants of the skate park-equipped church at 1215 N. Ross St.
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As cops tried to take Marin into custody, they say, he fought them off and screamed incoherently, leading to a tasering. He died shortly thereafter while undergoing a mental health evaluation at UCI Medical Center in Orange. The Orange County coroner plans to conduct an autopsy later this week to determine the cause of death.
City Lights Dream Center is known for its skate park behind the downtown Santa Ana church building converted from a vintage single-family home. Pastor Chris Swaim's nephew is pro skater Christian Hosoi.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.