Alberta’s police watchdog — the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) — provided an update Friday into an in custody death on Sept. 17 in Edmonton.
EPS says around 7 p.m. on Sept. 17, the EPS Detainee Management Unit (DMU) reportedly entered the cell of a 27-year-old man who was a detainee to begin his release process, when they noticed he was lying on the floor, unresponsive.
Officers checked his vital signs and found that he was not breathing and did not have a pulse.
The man was removed from the cell, and an on-duty paramedic began CPR, while EMS and EFRS were called. The man was declared dead at 7:55 p.m.
ASIRT says through the initial stages of their investigation, they’ve learned that the man had been taken into custody on Sept. 16 for allegedly shoplifting and breaching release conditions, and he was being held by Edmonton police pending a bail hearing.
An on-site paramedic reportedly performed a medical screening on the man and he was placed in a holding cell equipped with biometric monitoring devices.
On Sept. 17, a justice of the peace ordered the man’s release, and around 5:20 p.m., DMU staff reportedly moved the man into a release cell occupied by two other detainees while his paperwork was being finalized. The release cell was reportedly equipped with closed-circuit cameras, but not biometric monitoring.
Investigators have reviewed the video footage of the release cell, which shows the man moving around 6:40 p.m., before he laid down on the floor. At 7:02 p.m., an officer entered the cell to release the man and discovered he was unconscious.
Before confirming that the officer removed the man from the cell, and the on-site paramedic provided treatment, and the man was declared dead.
ASIRT says they’ve released the information to maintain the integrity of the investigation, noting that the investigation is still in the early stages.
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