Man who died following incident with Donora police had lethal amount of fentanyl
The man who died earlier this year after being taken into police custody in Donora had a lethal amount of fentanyl in his system, according to an autopsy performed by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office.
John F. Miller died at a Pittsburgh hospital five days after he ran from Donora police officers as they attempted to arrest him on an active warrant and deployed a Taser while trying to subdue him.
An autopsy by the medical examiner’s office lists Miller’s cause of death as mixed drug toxicity of fentanyl and cocaine, while Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh said there were additional complications from cardiovascular disease. Miller’s manner of death is listed as accidental in the autopsy report.
“The drug toxicity was a large, fatal amount,” Walsh said in a written statement.
Witnesses said police were called to a Donora Towers apartment complex for an unrelated incident March 17 when they spotted Miller, who was wanted on an arrest warrant for a DUI charge stemming from a March 2025 incident. Miller ran from police and officers used a Taser in an attempt to stop him, although Walsh said the device’s probes never made contact with his body.
While being arrested, Miller suffered a medical emergency and lost consciousness. Walsh said officers attempted to resuscitate Miller before he was transported by ambulance to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh, where he died March 22.
About 60 family members and friends of Miller attended a vigil following his death in which they called for accountability and a full investigation.
State police at the Belle Vernon barracks led the investigation and provided their findings to the district attorney. Walsh said the Donora police officers followed all “policies, procedures and law” in how they took Miller into custody, and he has now closed the investigation.
Miller had been living in Phoenix, Ariz., for about nine months before returning to Donora less than two weeks before the incident on St. Patrick’s Day.