Watchdog clears Winnipeg police in overdose death of man being detained

Manitoba’s police watchdog has cleared Winnipeg police following the death of a 45-year-old man being detained near the Legislative Grounds nearly two years ago.

In a report released Thursday, the Independent Investigative Unit (IIU) said no charges would be laid against Winnipeg police in relation to the death, which happened on Nov. 4, 2021, saying there were “no reasonable grounds” to support charges.

According to the IIU, police were called to a report of a man walking in and out of traffic on Osborne Street. Witnesses to the incident said the man was seen walking back and forth between north and southbound traffic, laying down on the centre line, and walking on all fours on several occasions.

Several motorists, along with members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, stopped to help move the man onto the Legislative Grounds, with members of the Winnipeg Police Service arriving soon after.

The report says police tried to speak to the man, who was acting paranoid and speaking incoherently, saying he tried to return to the road. Police took the man to the ground, handcuffed him and restrained him to allow paramedics to take his vital signs and assess his condition.

Paramedics decided to take the man to the hospital, but when they tried to move him from the ground to a stretcher, the man stopped breathing.

Paramedics performed first aid, and then took the man to St. Boniface Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Zane Tessler, the IIU’s civilian director, writes that an autopsy was performed the next day, but the final report and toxicology reports were not received until 361 days later.

“IIU investigators were advised that the final autopsy report and toxicology reports would be available within a six month time frame,” Tessler wrote. “Both the autopsy and toxicology reports were critical to this investigation.”

A reason for the delay in the reports was not given.

The autopsy report says the cause of the man’s death was cocaine intoxication, with cardiomegaly, or an enlarged heart, as a contributing factor in the death. The toxicology report says the cocaine level in the man’s system was 811 ng/ml of blood, with Tessler writing that it is a “substantial and excessive amount of drug in his system.”

“The circumstances of this incident represents another tragic example of the illicit use of drugs such as cocaine,” Tessler wrote.