The Special Investigation Unit has been called in after a man died while being taken to hospital after he was arrested by the OPP.

Police said they responded to a report of a suicidal man early Saturday morning, and found the 50-year-old with an exacto knife in the backyard of his house outside Peterborough.

Police say he was disarmed, arrested under the authority of the Mental Health Act, and transported to Peterborough Civic Hospital for treatment.

The unidentified man died while in an ambulance en route to the hospital. Doctors found he had an abdominal wound.

An autopsy was scheduled for Sunday at the coroner's office in Toronto.

The SIU is a civilian law enforcement agency, independent of the police, that investigates circumstances involving police and civilians that result in serious injury or death.

With files from The Canadian Press