The province’s police watchdog has cleared two RNC officers of criminal conduct in the death of a Corner Brook man in a jail cell on Christmas day last year.
The 52-year-old victim was found unresponsive at the Corner Brook detention centre shortly before 7 a.m. Christmas morning.
He was brought there following a drunken escapade fuelled by cocaine and prescription drugs that started the previous afternoon at a hotel bar. But by midnight, staff were forced to call 911 to deal with the man who had fallen several times and was thought to have overdosed.
Police and paramedics responded, and he was taken to hospital. But within an hour he had ripped out his I.V.s and left the building, prompting staff to call police again.
They found him outside in a drunken state, and refusing treatment, at which point, for his own safety, they took him to the lockup. After about five hours there, he was found unresponsive and taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of death was deemed accidental due to rib fractures that caused severe blood loss. But SIRT-NL, which only looks into serious incidents involving police, concluded there was no way the officers could have known that, since the man left hospital before any tests could be done.
SIRT-NL director Mike King noted the applicable Criminal Code violations could have included criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
A separate investigation involving the correctional officers in the case is being carried out by the RNC.
SIRT-NL says the entire report will be posted on its website in the coming days.