A man has died in police custody following his arrest after allegedly assaulting a woman at a retirement home, NT Police said.

Police director of communications Mark Wilton said that about 8:40pm Tuesday police received a report that a man had damaged window louvres and assaulted a woman at the Tiwi Gardens Retirement Village in Casuarina.

Mr Wilton said the man was arrested in the vicinity of the facility and was put in the cage at the back of a police ute.

“A short time later the man was observed by members to have laboured breathing. St John Ambulance were contacted while police began CPR,” Mr Wilton said.

He said St John Ambulance took the man to Royal Darwin Hospital where died at 10:10pm.

“The formal cause of death is yet to be determined and the deceased is yet to be formally identified,” Mr Wilton said.

Police said Major Crime Section detectives are investigating the death with oversight from the Professional Standards Command, and police are also investigating the man’s death on behalf of the coroner.