The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said officers shouldn’t be charged in connection with the death of a 21-year-old man who was taken into custody after a struggle in a Garden City home.
It happened on Feb. 12, 2017, and the IIU announced its investigation later that week.
The IIU said Winnipeg Police Service officers were initially called by a father who wanted his intoxicated son removed from his home, and that the son was “in a state of excited delirium and acting strangely” when police arrived.
Due to a struggle, the man was pepper sprayed by police, then given a sedative by members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, the IIU said. After being taken outside, first responders checked the man’s vital signs and found he was in cardiac arrest. He was given CPR and pronounced dead at Seven Oaks Hospital.
The IIU said an autopsy indicated the man had heart disease and said his death was caused by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or a buildup of plaque in his arteries.
The IIU said its civilian director, Zane Tessler found “there was no evidence that any officer used force that was excessive and unnecessary in these circumstances,” noting that the man’s aggressive and bizarre behaviour and level of intoxication “supports the conclusion that he was in excited delirium at the time he was combative with WPS officers.”
The man’s death will also be subject to an inquest called by the chief medical examiner of Manitoba.
