By Ashley Legassic

IIO investigating after man dies in Kamloops RCMP custody

Mar 13, 2019 | 11:33 AM

KAMLOOPS — Officers have notified the province’s police watchdog after a man died in Kamloops RCMP custody.

At 9:30 p.m. yesterday (March 12), Kamloops RCMP responded to a complaint from a business in the 100-block of Victoria Street, according to a news release.

A man, who had previously been asked not to attend the business, was present and appeared intoxicated.

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Officers located the man in a nearby parking lot, and based on what they saw, the man was arrested and lodged in Kamloops RCMP cells, to be released when he was able to take care of himself.

The release states the man was found unresponsive in his cell just before 6:00 a.m. this morning, and has since been pronounced dead.

The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) is now investigating to determine whether police actions or inactions are linked to the man’s death.

Chief Civilian Director Ron McDonald says the IIO will have a lot of information to obtain and analyze, but surveillance video of the man in his cell will be key.

“We’ll be looking at the circumstances that surrounded the individual’s arrest, why he was arrested, was there any use of force, what was his condition when he arrived at the jail cell,” said McDonald.

“We will be going through all of the video that will be available. Typically, jail cells have video so that you can effectively watch every minute that the person has spent in custody with the police service. We’ll be looking at what steps were taken while he was there to do welfare checks on him, were there any complaints about his wellness, that type of thing.

“Usually, we can do a fairly thorough job because there usually is a fairly significant amount of video available.

“The video is very important, which is why agencies have such video [equipment] in their facilities. They understand that these can be high risk situations,” McDonald continued. “And the real thing that we’ll be looking at at the end of the day is to determine whether or not any action or inaction of the police led to this man’s death, or whether it was something that occurred irrespective of the actions of the police.”