The Independent Investigations Office of BC has determined that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer committed an offence in the death of a man in Williams Lake RCMP jail cells.
A lengthy report did find however, that the guard, did not meet the standard of care that is required by RCMP policies of a civilian jail guard.
Surrance Myers was arrested back on September 30th, 2022.
RCMP say he was driving a moped and at the time he was prohibited from operating a motor vehicle.
After a series of attempts to pull him over, an officer eventually arrested him and a female passenger.
He was booked into cells at 12:29 a.m.
The prisoner log noted that he had consumed alcohol that evening, and that he showed signs of intoxication.
However, he was placed in a normal cell rather than the “drunk tank” as he was not seriously intoxicated.
He was described as polite and cooperative.
The report noted that the Williams Lake detachment was short-staffed that night as the watch commander was not on shift and the acting watch commander had gone home sick.
By midnight only two RCMP members were on duty at the detachment along with the civilian jail guard.
At about 2-20 a.m, those two police officers were called out leaving only the guard to monitor prisoners.
They were not back until 4-19 a.m.
RCMP records show that five other individuals were detained at the detachment during part or all of the time that Myers was in cells.
His time in cells was continuously recorded by CCTV video.
-At 12:29 a.m., Myers enters the cell on his own power, he lies down on his back on a mattress and appears to fall asleep, occasionally changing positions.
-at 2:56:57 a.m., he shows a series of physical motions, including movement of his head and limbs.
-at 2:57:05 a.m., Myers falls off the bench onto the concrete floor, appearing to land on his forehead without using his hands to break his fall. He continues to move on the floor and rolls onto his side, facing away from the door and camera.
-at 2:59 a.m., he remains lying on the floor and is not seen to move again until he is found to be unresponsive.
-at 3 a.m., a brief physical check is made from outside the cell door by the civilian guard.
The IIO report says the jail guard testified that she checked on Myers who said he was OK.
She also said that he sat up and looked at her before laying back down.
The IIO says that statement is not supported by the video evidence.
It also noted that it could not be determined by video evidence whether a conversation took place between the two.
The guard told IIO investigators that “she did tell the watch commander when he came through” that Myers had fallen from his bunk.
No officer was present in cells from before he fell until prisoners were being released close to the time that Myers was located unresponsive.
Physical checks, according to RCMP policy, are to be done every 15 minutes.
That is physically at the cell door and not remotely via a television monitor.
RCMP policy states that the use of CCTV (video) checks “may augment but not replace physical checks.”
The guard noted that she did fewer physical checks that night because her knee was hurting.
She also said that there are times when a physical check every 15 minutes is not practical if it was “super busy”, or they are dealing with multiple prisoners for transfer to another prison.
The report noted that no physical checks were done between 1-01 and 2-27 a.m., and again between 3-01 and 4-18 a.m.
Myers was found to be unresponsive at 4-48.
An officer and the guard attempted first aid, including administering Narcan and performing CPR, until paramedics arrived at around 5 a.m.
He was subsequently declared deceased.
In its conclusion, the IIO report said that the actions of the officers initially involved with stopping and arresting Myers were within lawful execution of their duty and that they did not use excessive force.
There was no evidence of any injuries prior to Myers going into cells.
The postmortem report did not identify a cause of death, but it did make note of a number of injuries to his face.
That includes a combined pink-purple abrasion and contusion on the right hairline, a red-brown abrasion on the right forward, a red-brown abrasion over the bridge of his nose, and a red-brown abrasion above the right half of his upper lip.
The report indicates that it is reasonable to conclude that the injuries resulted from Myers’ fall, face first, from the bench onto the concrete cell floor, and were not caused by officers during his arrest.
The IIO report also concluded that the civilian jail guard did not meet the standard of care expected of her.
It says that included monitoring detainees in cells and taking immediate steps to summon medical aid whenever it appears necessary.
Guards are not permitted by RCMP policy to enter cells except in the company of an officer, so the guard’s duty, whenever there is a concern about a prisoner’s physical welfare, is to inform officers and have them come to cells to assist.
The report said it was of significant concern that the guard did not notice, during physical and CCTV checks, that Myers did not appear to move from approximately 2:59 a.m. until 4:48 a.m.
It says previous detection of his medical condition may have provided an opportunity for earlier medical intervention.
Additionally, the report concluded that supervision on the night of the incident was also inadequate, but that it was reasonable to conclude that this was due, at least in part, to the detachment being understaffed.
It goes on to say that any lack of supervision of the jail guards does not support a determination that there are reasonable grounds to believe any officer may have committed an offence, although it highlights the critical importance of ensuring that cell block policies, and consequently the way vulnerable detainees receive care, are followed.
It concluded that while Myers was one such a vulnerable detainee, and his death while in cells was tragic, there wasn’t reasonable grounds for the consideration of charges.
The Chief Civilian Director with the IIO did not have the authority at the time of this incident to refer charges against individuals like civilian guards, as they did not fall under the definition of an “officer” under the Police Act.
As of September 1, 2025, an amendment was made to bring both on-duty and off-duty detention guards under the jurisdiction of the IIO with respect to any future incident where a detention guard may have caused serious harm or death.
