CARLSBAD —— A Carlsbad Police Department supervisor said Monday that information is still being collected to determine why officers pepper sprayed and handcuffed a man who died minutes later.

Alex Royal Majeska, 32, died Friday after struggling with officers responding to complaints from neighbors at the La Costa Hills condominium complex that he was behaving bizarrely, police said.

"I don't have the sequence of events and all the details to share about it yet," detective Lt. Bill Rowland said Monday. "There were a lot of conflicting statements from people."

Neighbors at the quiet, upscale complex said Monday that police have exaggerated how aggressive Majeska was acting that night.

"He didn't want a struggle," said Jim Stern, a neighbor who said he witnessed the incident. "He was a little bit off and they didn't know how to deal with that."

Stern said Majeska, who had lived in the complex for at least five years, had some mental problems and appeared to not have taken his medication. He was walking around the complex asking for help, Stern said.

Some medications for Majeska have been recovered during the investigation, Rowland said.

In addition to the death investigation, the department is conducting its own customary investigation to determine whether department policy and procedures were followed.

Autopsy results on Majeska are pending.

After the police finish their investigation, the San Diego County District Attorney's death will review the case for any criminal liability. Carlsbad does not have an independent citizen law enforcement review board to examine such incidents.

The names of the three officers and the clinical psychologist involved had not been released as of Monday afternoon. The officers remained on administrative leave required after officer-involved deaths, Rowland said.

Friday's encounter with Majeska started as a welfare check by a Psychiatric Emergency Response Team after neighbors started calling police at 1:53 p.m., Rowland said.

Callers said Majeska was wandering around the Caminito Sierra condo complex, following people and yelling at them that he was God, said the lieutenant.

An 18-year-old neighbor who didn't want his name used said Majeska came up to him and his friends acting strangely and "saying he was God and weird stuff." The teen said they only called the police because they thought Majeska needed medical help.

Having a clinical psychologist respond with a specially trained officer to a strange behavior call is a method the police department developed because of public concerns about the best way to handle mental health situations, Stockton said.

"From our perspective, we had the right team in the right place, but things also don't always go as planned," said Rowland.

He said the officer and the clinical psychologist, both women, arrived at 2:18 p.m. to deal with the 5-foot-10, 281-pound Majeska. The clinician had had prior contact with him and knew him by name, the lieutenant said.

Stockton and Rowland declined to say what prior contacts police have had with Majeska, but Rowland said multiple officers were called at least once.

Majeska became agitated and aggressive when he was approached Friday, police said.

Stern said he was not aggressive, but became agitated because he didn't want to be touched.

"There was no threat to a soul," he said passionately Monday while sitting in his living room, less than 100 feet from where the incident took place. "He was backing into trees and getting scared."

Three minutes later the officer made an emergency call on her radio for backup, Rowland said. It was then that neighbors say police began pepper spraying Majeska in the face.

Capt. Dale Stockton said Carlsbad officers have pepper spray, a clear organic substance similar to the table condiment, in their arsenal as an alternative weapon. The spray's effect on people can vary and it isn't always possible to hit the chin and chest, as officers are trained to do, Stockton said.

"Everybody (in the department) that uses pepper spray (has had training)," he said.

Rowland said a second officer arrived about the same time the backup call went out, and there was a physical altercation.

"A few minutes later a third officer came and was able to hold Mr. Majeska's legs," the lieutenant said. "The clinician was also hanging on."

A couple of the officers were sitting on top of Majeska, neighbors said. After about 10 minutes, he began to scream that he couldn't breathe, he said.

"They couldn't get him pinned," Stern said. "He just wouldn't give up."

Majeska was handcuffed and face down when two sergeants arrived at 2:34 p.m., said Rowland. He said the sergeants noticed Majeska was having "some difficulty, that he was making some noises."

Police called for an ambulance at 2:36 p.m. Officers and paramedics tried to revive Majeska, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Contact staff writer Jo Moreland at (760) 740-3524 or jmoreland@nctimes.com. Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 761-4414 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.