Police Say No Suspicion of Criminal Activity in Tracey St Incident

A Peabody man was taken to Salem Hospital Monday afternoon in critical condition after experiencing some sort of medical emergency while inside a car traveling in Downtown Peabody, according to police.

What's odd about the incident is that a passerby saw another person remove the man from the vehicle on Tracey Street and allegedly take off. And to all appearances, it looked like the man on the ground was dying.

Peabody police cordoned off the area for a while that afternoon and with news outlets descending on the scene, rumors started to fly back and forth among residents and via social media on what exactly transpired.

Detective Michael Crane, a spokesman for the department, said on Wednesday morning that the incident is being treated as a medical emergency at this time, although an investigation is still open.

Police are not releasing the man's name at this time -- he is not being charged with any criminal activity. Crane said the man was traveling in a car in the area of Tracey Street when he suffered a medical emergency and the car pulled over.

Another occupant of the car removed the victim from inside.

Police responded to the scene and found the man unresponsive and not breathing. Crane said the victim was treated by EMTs at the scene and taken to Salem Hospital in critical condition.

He said he did know the man was still on life support on Tuesday, but was unaware of his condition today (Wednesday).

Crane said there was at least one other person in the vehicle and that person was spoken to by officers investigating the incident on Monday. He said it was unclear, however, if that person took off initially or stayed on the scene.

Crane reiterated that the investigation is still open and there are no criminal charges forthcoming at this time.

He said he could not comment on what may have initially led to the medical emergency.