No charges recommended in Long Plain man’s death while in custody

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This article was published 26/03/2025 (219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Crown is not recommending charges against police officers in connection with a Long Plain First Nation man’s death in 2022.

A report by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba released Wednesday said the man — identified by his First Nation at the time as Jeremy Peters, 42 — died of an overdose after he was arrested on the afternoon of July 9.

The report said video evidence confirmed Peters was left face down in a cell in the Manitoba First Nations Police Service’s Long Plain detachment for about seven minutes before an officer noticed he was not breathing. He was taken to hospital in Portage la Prairie and pronounced dead.

The cause of death was noted as intoxication from cocaine, methamphetamine and alcohol.

“There were no underlying, external conditions or trauma that led to (the) death,” the report said. “The cause of death was by overdose.”

The report said Peters was found by police lying on the ground between two houses and arrested after officers were sent to the area.

A man who lived a few houses away said he found a man in his backyard jumping on a trampoline while swinging a garden rake, seemingly trying to fight imaginary people. He eventually tried to climb over a fence and fell onto the other side, he told investigators.

“On the facts, there is no way to establish that the officers knew or ought to have known of all the underlying circumstances facing (Peters), and thus behaved differently,” the IIU report said.

“Despite the clearly tragic circumstances, it is the Crown’s view that there is no reasonable likelihood that criminal liability against (two officers) could be established beyond a reasonable doubt. As such, we are not recommending charges.”

Long Plain First Nation issued a statement demanding “information and answers” in the days after Peters’ death, while the Southern Chiefs’ Organization called for “accountability and transparency.”

The IIU released another report Wednesday that found no fault with the actions of RCMP officers in connection with a man who was pronounced dead at the Bloodvein nursing station on March 7, 2023.

Two officers drove the man to the nursing station after being called about an intoxicated person causing a disturbance. The officers had found him face down on the floor in the bedroom of a home less than 45 minutes before he was pronounced dead.

The cause of death was listed as complications from chronic alcoholism.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca