The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) of BC is investigating an incident that happened last month in 100 Mile House.
The IIO is an independent civilian oversight agency of the police in British Columbia. It investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.
The office is currently investigating the death of a man who died days after being transported by 100 Mile House RCMP.
On June 27, the RCMP notified the IIO of a death that had occurred earlier that day.
It was two days prior that officers responded to a call regarding a theft in progress and arrested a man and a woman without incident.
The man, the affected person, in this case, was released on June 26 and provided transportation to a nearby shelter. Late afternoon the following day, the man was found deceased in his room.
The Chief Civilian Director with the IIO Ronald MacDonald, said that due to the circumstances of the man being in the custody of the RCMP close to his death, they would be investigating.
“The matter was referred to us to have a look at it to determine what actions or inactions if any of the RCMP, and whether they may or may not have played any role in his death,” he said. “This is one of those circumstances where just because the male made been in custody in a timeframe not far from his death that we will have a look at it to try to determine whether or not there is any connection between the RCMP’s action or inaction and the death.”
“We have cases such as this where individuals have been in the custody of police and then subsequently are found deceased. The vast majority of them it usually turns out that the cause of death was unrelated to the police action,” MacDonald added.
Local RCMP have ruled out foul play in his death, and the BC Coroners Service continues its concurrent fact-finding investigation to determine the cause of death and any contributing factors.