St. Paul RCMP arrested one man with outstanding warrants after officials received a complaint of three suspicious people looking into vehicles on 51 Avenue near 55 Street.
The man cooperated with the officer and was taken to the St. Paul RCMP detachment, arriving at 6:33 a.m. No one was in the cell which was monitored by a guard throughout the day.
At 6:20 p.m. the man asked for coffee and then shortly later appeared to be sleeping. At approximately 9 p.m., an officer entered the cell in order to allow the man to speak to duty counsel prior to his bail hearing and the man was unresponsive.
Officers began life-saving efforts and called Emergency Medical Services, which arrived a short time later and took over care. Their efforts were unsuccessful and the man was pronounced deceased at approximately 9:45 p.m.
An autopsy was conducted on Jan 13 with full results of the autopsy, which are pending and will be incorporated into the investigation.
ASIRT’s mandate is to effectively, independently, and objectively investigate incidents involving Alberta’s police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.