Sault police cleared in incident in which man ended up in cocaine induced coma
Sault Ste. Marie police were not at fault in September when a suspect taken into custody ended up in a coma in the Intensive Care Unit of the local hospital.
THE INCIDENT
An investigation by the province's Special Investigation Unit[1] (SIU) said police arrested a man on an outstanding warrant on Sept.
15 in Echo Bay and transported him to the Sault Ste. Marie Police Station (SSMPS).
"The complainant was apparently searched prior to arriving at the SSMPS and searched again before being lodged in a holding cell," the SIU report said. "At 2:45 p.m., the cell monitor noticed the complainant was fidgeting in his cell." Police then searched the man again and found clear baggies containing crystal methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine in a pant pocket.
"(Police) then commenced a strip search, found another baggie in his underwear that contained cannabis and a lighter," reads the report. "And saw a small strip of rolled toilet paper situated in his rectum." Police then requested the man remove the strip they located but refused and was transported to the Sault Area Hospital[2] (SAH) by ambulance accompanied by police.
At the hospital, the man continued to refuse to remove the item and was admitted for observation by medical staff as they also would not remove the item, according to the report. "(He) was seen fidgeting under his blanket and then attempting to ingest something he appeared to extract from his rectum," said SIU. "Police officers intervened and the package was seized."
According to the report, police "swatted" the bag out of the man's hand and to prevent him from accessing more of the contents officers handcuffed his right hand to the hospital bed rail above his head. The man had ingested a quantity of cocaine. "(His) condition began to manifestly deteriorate at about 8:20 p.m. when he started convulsing," said SIU in the report.
"CPR was administered and the complainant was transferred to the ICU unconscious." After 9 p.m. it was determined that the man had lapsed into a coma - but was expected to survive.
SIU FINDINGS
SIU director Joseph Martino wrote that police comported themselves with due care and regard for man's health and well-being. "Were there evidence to establish that the drugs confiscated from the complainant's left pant pockets were there when he was first arrested and then entered the cells, there would be an arguable case that the searches conducted by (police) were something less than careful.
Drawing that inference, however, is speculative in the circumstances," Martino wrote. "There is reason to believe... that nothing short of a strip search would have been effective in discovering the drugs." SIU notes that strip searches, however, are only lawful where there are reasonable and probable grounds to believe it is necessary during the circumstances of the arrest.
"There are no reasonable grounds to conclude that either subject official transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law in their dealings with the complainant," Martino wrote. "There is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges. The file is closed."
References
- ^ Special Investigation Unit (www.siu.on.ca)
- ^ Sault Area Hospital (sah.on.ca)
- ^ here (siu.on.ca)