Guard’s death believed to be from heart attack

Karen Zekan

Thursday, Jan. 30, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

An autopsy has determined that a Las Vegas Club security guard who died after an incident with an unruly patron apparently suffered a heart attack.

Metro Police are awaiting the results of pending toxicology tests, but feel confident the unidentified patron was not directly responsible for causing the death of 51-year-old Roger Gotreau, said homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning.

About 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, casino guards had escorted a patron to the security office after finding him in a restricted area of the business and had notified him that he would no longer be welcome there. At that point, the otherwise calm man stood up and got into a shoving match with one of the guards.

Gotreau rushed over to assist the fellow guard in handcuffing the man, who was pinned to the floor in the process but not injured, Manning said. Thirty minutes later, Gotreau passed out.

"The patron had been very cooperative up until that point," Manning said. "There has been a disagreement over whether one would have contributed to the other -- the incident and the death. The man could have died just as easily had he gone to the gym or played tennis. It's the hazards of the job."

Paramedics transported Gotreau to University Medical Center, where he later died.

The district attorney's office reviewed the case and could see nothing criminally involved in the death, Manning said.

Metro's investigation remains open, and police are awaiting information on Gotreau's medical history.