Police not at fault in hypothermia death: IIU 

A report by the province’s police watchdog determined RCMP acted as carefully as possible while handcuffing a man who later died of hypothermia this winter.

The man died at the Swan Valley Health Centre in Swan River on Jan. 20.

RCMP in Kamsack, Sask., were told about a missing man in the Madge Lake area in Duck Mountain Provincial Park, near the Manitoba border, on the night of Jan. 19. A person told police they did not think the man was dressed for the weather.

RCMP members from Kamsack and four Manitoba detachments, and conservation officers from both provinces, went to the area to search for the man. Searchers were told the man might have been involved in a “criminal matter” that day and might be armed, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba noted in its report, released Tuesday.

A drone determined he was in the bush, about 200 to 300 metres away. Snowmobiles could not be used to get there because of the terrain, a person told the IIU.

Police found the man face down and placed him in handcuffs. A toxicology report found cocaine and cannabis in his system.

In January, a spokesperson for the Manitoba government said they could not state whether the man was found in Saskatchewan or this province. One person tasked with helping RCMP find the man said they were told police were unsure whether the man was on the Saskatchewan or Manitoba side of Madge Lake, the report noted.

The weather was between -40 and -45, including the windchill, around the time the man was found.