SPRINGFIELD, Ill. ? A 39-year-old man died Friday at a hospital, two weeks after his family says he was beaten by police who mistook his diabetic seizure for drunkenness.

Jerome Clement, who had lapsed into a coma after the incident Aug. 24, was taken off a respirator, insulin and a feeding tube late Tuesday, said Patricia Zegley, a paralegal with the law firm representing the family.

Police officers said they found Clement passed out in a car after receiving a report about an apparent drunken driver at a scrap yard. They reported that he smelled intoxicated, and when they tried to wake him up, he spoke in slurred tones.

He became unruly when they tried to pull him from the car, and they used pepper spray and hit him three times with a baton while trying to subdue him, they said.

Attorneys for the family say police mistook a diabetic seizure for Clement being drunk.

Police Chief Robert Machuca has said that officers “responded appropriately, given the situation. They believed he was drunk, and he was very combative, so they took him into custody.”

Clement’s heart stopped as paramedics administered treatment and he fell into the coma.