The Canadian Bazaar
BRAMPTON: Peel Police officers won’t face criminal charges in connection with the death of a 22-year-old man in Brampton in July.
Police officer responded to a 911 call in the afternoon of July 1 about shots being fired at an apartment building on Charolais Boulevard.
When officers reached the building, they had to force their way into the building where a man was located acting erratically before lying down in the hallway. He then began to froth at the mouth and convulse. The officers handcuffed him and called for an ambulance. The man was taken to hospital where he died the next day.
After investigations against the officers by the Special Investigations Unit, its director Joseph Martino, said there are no reasonable grounds to believe that Peel Regional Police officers committed a criminal offence in connection with the death of the man.
Martino said the officers had a lawful basis to take the man into custody until they could determine his role, if any, in the incident under investigation.
He also said he was satisfied that the officers acted within the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law, in that after they handcuffed the man, they quickly realized he was in medical distress and placed him in a recovery position while multiple calls were made for an ambulance.
In hindsight, Martino said, it may have been better for the officers to have administered naloxone in light of information that the man may have been suffering from a drug overdose, but their failure to do so in the circumstances did not transgress the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law.
The man’s cause of death remains undetermined at this time, pending the results of toxicological analysis.
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