Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has ruled that there are no reasons to believe London police played any role in the death of a man who had been arrested for impaired driving.
The SIU launched an investigation in October of 2018 after the 55-year-old man died while in police custody. According to the SIU's final report, on the night of October 11, 2018, a motorist called 911 to report that a Kia Forte was going south on Wonderland Road and being driven in an erratic manner. The witness reported seeing the Kia swerve into the oncoming lane and knock over construction barrels. While following the Kia, the caller said it went into the ditch on the right side of Wonderland Road near Harry White Drive.
Officers responded to the scene and reported seeing the driver looking for paperwork in the Kia. One of the officers ordered the man to get out of the car. The driver complied and was observed by police as being unsteady on his feet. He was arrested for impaired driving, handcuffed, and put in a cruiser.
On the way to police headquarters, the man fell asleep and started snoring. When the cruiser arrived at the police station, the officers noticed the man had stopped snoring and was unresponsive. They realized he was in medical distress and pulled him from the cruiser, put him on the floor, and started CPR. An automated external defibrillator was also used while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive.
The man was rushed to hospital, but efforts to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be "multi-drug toxicity." A pathologist found fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and trazodone in the man's system.
"The level of fentanyl alone was well into the fatal zone," the SIU report said. "A significant condition that contributed to the death but was not causally related to the immediate cause of death was Cardiomegaly. That ailment predisposed the Complainant to fatal cardiac arrhythmia."
SIU Interim Director Joseph Martino said he is satisfied that the officers acting with due care at all times throughout the incident. He said that are no reasonable grounds to conclude that they "transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law in connection with the Complainant’s death, and the file is closed."
