A Regina man who police said was in an "agitated" state and wielding an axe has died in hospital from an apparent cardiac arrest after he was subdued using pepper spray.

Police said the man appeared to be in distress shortly after he was arrested Wednesday night around 11:30. They said they immediately performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, and the man was taken to hospital.

The man, who has not been identified, died at around 12:30 p.m. Thursday, police said.

Pepper spray, a term used to describe a chemical compound designed to irritate and distract a suspect, is sometimes used by police departments to deal with people who are unco-operative.

It's use has also been the subject of several inquiries, when people have died following a pepper-spraying episode.

In a release issued Thursday, police said they were called to a neighbourhood just east of the downtown core after receiving a report "of a male, in an apparently agitated state, waving an axe."

The police said the suspect fled in a car but that they were able to stop him a few blocks away.

When officers then went to talk to him, he got out of the car and fled on foot. Following a foot chase, they report the man was pepper sprayed during a struggle.

"Shortly after the male was placed in handcuffs," the release said, "he suffered an apparent cardiac arrest. Officers performed CPR until EMS [Emergency Medical Services] arrived and took over."

He died about 13 hours later in hospital.

Police said the matter will be investigated by the provincial coroner's office. They said their own investigation will be monitored by an observer from the RCMP.

At a news conference earlier on Thursday, Troy Hagen, the chief of police, told reporters that pepper spray is used from time to time by officers.

"In 2007, the RPS [Regina Police Service] deployed pepper spray on six occasions," Hagen recounted. "In 2008, and this is to date, there have been seven. That number does not include this incident from last night."

Some parts of the neighbourhood continued to be cordoned off by yellow police tape late Thursday afternoon. Police said they were "holding the scene in the 2200 block of Quebec Street and are gathering evidence in connection with the arrest."