tried to get a 38-year-old violent man medical attention.

"I knew he needed medical care and I tried to get it either from the hospital or the Government doctor,'' said Sgt. Clive Brown during his second day of testimony in the Coroner's inquest into the sudden death of Michael Burgess.

A six-man, two-woman yesterday started their second week of investigations into how, when and where Mr. Burgess, of Rosemont Avenue, Pembroke, met his death on May 27, 1996.

Sgt. Brown said a hand and ankle cuffed Mr. Burgess as he was lifted into the Hamilton Police Station after being detained following a violent episode on a City street.

While the officers carried the volatile man into the station he "snapped out to bite'' a female Police officer who was holding a door open.

"As we approached the steps to the jail area we had to put him down on his stomach to get a better hold on him, it was then that I noticed that there were a couple of drops of blood on the ground,'' he recalled.

After placing a struggling Mr. Burgess on the floor of the jail area, Sgt.

Brown said he noticed there appeared to be blood coming from the man's nose.

"I immediately left the jail area to call the hospital about his condition,'' he said. "I spoke to Nurse Tester and told her Mr. Burgess was bleeding from the nose and was violent.'' Sgt. Brown said the nurse told him to pinch the man's nose to halt the bleeding. "I told her that we couldn't get close enough to do this,'' he recalled. "He was biting out at the officers and it was not safe to do this.

I requested a doctor be sent to the station. But she said it was not their policy and that there was only one doctor on duty. She suggest I contact the Government doctor.'' Sgt. Brown said he returned to the jail area to check on Mr. Burgess and found more blood on the floor.

"Mr. Burgess was still moving his head around and trying to hit it on any object he could find and banging it on the floor,'' he said. "I noticed that both sides of his head were blood soiled.'' On returning to the Sergeant office, he said he tried to track down a telephone number for the Government doctor.

This was when he made the second of his three calls to the emergency department to request medical aid.

"I requested that they send an ambulance to the station,'' Sgt. Brown said.

"She suggested that I bring Mr. Burgess in via a Police car since he was violent.'' After some consideration, Sgt. Brown said he decided that transporting the bleeding man in a Police van was not a good idea.

"I was stuck. This man needed medical care so despite what the hospital said I called back.'' After Sgt. Brown made his last call to the emergency department, an ambulance arrived shortly.

Mr. Burgess was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he went into respiratory arrest and died.

Last week, American pathologist Dr. Valerie Rao testified that Mr. Burgess died from a cocaine induced psychosis stemming from a mixture of cocaine and alcohol.

Yesterday, Sgt. Brown admitted that he had heard of the condition, cocaine induced psychosis, but had never seen or had any experience with anyone suffering such an episode.

"I felt that whatever he was suffering from, it was more than alcohol intoxication when he became violent and displayed intense strength,'' he explained. "I thought he may have been under the influence of some drug other than alcohol. It was my view from the start that Mr. Burgess was a medical case.'' The inquest continues today before Senior Coroner Will Francis.