DURHAM – A 17-year-old died while in the custody of a Durham police officer early Tuesday. State Bureau of Investigation agents are trying to determine how the boy’s death occurred, according to WRAL.

Officer Samuel Duncan was transporting Jesus Huerta to Durham police headquarters just before 3 a.m. to pick up a warrant charging the teen with second-degree trespassing.

Police said that when Duncan arrived in the station’s parking lot, he heard a loud noise in the car. He then jumped from the vehicle, and the patrol car rolled into a nearby van with Huerta in the back seat.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said in a statement that the preliminary investigation did not indicate that any Durham police officer fired a weapon during the incident.

Huerta’s body was sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Raleigh for an autopsy.

The police department’s professional standards division and homicide unit are also investigating the teen’s death, according to Lopez.

Duncan, who joined the police department in July 2012, was put on administrative leave with pay, which is standard procedure.

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