The B.C. police watchdog has determined there should be no criminal charges in a case where a drunken man died in the custody of the Ridge Meadows RCMP.
The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) issued its decision on July 28, after investigating a death that happened Sept. 20, 2024.
The victim was arrested for impaired driving and placed in a cell at the Maple Ridge detachment. Just before midnight, he was found unresponsive in his cell. Officers gave the victim first aid, and called for medical assistance. Despite life-saving efforts by firefighters and paramedics, the man was declared deceased in the early morning hours of Sept. 20.
The IIO investigators reported the monitoring and record-keeping by the civilian guard who watched the man in his cell appeared to fall short of the expected standard, but not to a degree that would constitute an offence.
The case began at 7:11 p.m. on Sept. 19, when police received a call about a vehicle veering into oncoming lanes, and almost hitting a road sign.
The responding officer found the suspect vehicle parked on the side of the road, with the driver slouched over and nodding in and out of sleep. The officer asked if he needed medical assistance, which the driver declined in a slurred voice. The driver failed a roadside screening test of alcohol.
While walking to the police cruiser, the officer said the man suddenly turned and tried to head butt the officer. The officer turned him against the side of the vehicle, and told him to stop or he would be arrested for assaulting a police officer. The impaired man apologized and was cooperative. He lay down in the back of the cruiser, giving only mumbled responses.
At the detachment, an officer assessed whether the man was too impaired to be in cells, and the senior officer judged that he only needed to sober up.
The suspect was belligerent, swore at officers, and was placed in a cell at 8:49 p.m. He was recorded sleeping, snoring, vomiting, slipping awkwardly off the bench onto the floor, and then moving about the cell. Then just before midnight, his breathing was shallow, and police checked on him, finding no pulse.
An autopsy found he died of acute alcohol intoxication 鈥� more than three times the legal limit for driving, in combination with significant physiological disease involving his heart, liver and arteries.
"The evidence does not establish whether the affected person's death might have been prevented if he had been taken to hospital, rather than to police cells, upon arrest," said the report, which is signed by IIO chief civilian director Jessica Berglund.
The report noted police, without specialized medical training, are required to judge whether intoxicated people can be left to "sleep it off" in a jail cell, or whether they should be placed in the care of hospital staff. The medical personnel would be required to manage a potentially confrontational patient.
"In this case, the evidence supports that the subject officer made his best evidence in assessing the condition of the detainee and arriving at a considered decision in good faith," said the report.
The report considered statements from four civilian witnesses including a jail guard, statements from five police officer witnesses, audio recordings from 911 dispatching and police radio transmissions, video from the RCMP detachment, autopsy and toxicology reports, and other evidence.
