No charges in death of man in RCMP custody
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/02/2022 (1511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Charges will not be laid in connection with the death of a man in a cell at the RCMP detachment in The Pas in 2019.
The Independent Investigation Unit began investigating after the man was found dead early Oct. 6, as mandated by provincial legislation. He had been picked by RCMP hours earlier after he was found passed out outdoors.
An autopsy determined he had been extremely intoxicated. The chief medical examiner said that was life-threatening in its own right, along with the man’s other health problems.
The man’s death was complicated, the medical examiner said. He determined the victim had died of acute alcohol toxicity, heart disease related to alcoholism, coronary artery disease and external neck compression.
The man was placed in the cell in the detachment with two other men.
During the evening, as the man lay asleep on the floor, one of the other men rolled over, his leg landing on the victim’s neck. It stayed there for 40 minutes, the medical examiner noted based on surveillance video, until the other man rolled over again. For about five minutes, the victim moved his hands up to the leg, despite being extremely intoxicated, which the medical examiner concluded meant the stress was significant.
Hours later, guards found the victim unresponsive and paramedics pronounced him dead.
The IIU reviewed police reports, notes, photographs and surveillance video, as well as jail log sheets and medical reports. Investigators also spoke with witness officers, civilian witnesses and paramedics, before consulting with the medical examiner.
After finishing the investigation, the IIU’s civilian director, Zane Tessler, had concerns the circumstances of the death suggested that a number of people, potentially including guards and inmates in addition to police personnel, may have been responsible, he wrote in his final report.
The investigative file and other material were handed off to provincial prosecutors who determined there was no basis for criminal charges.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca