RCMP response not a factor in cell death

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Published

7 years ago

5 minute read

April 09, 2019

On May 13, 2017 ASIRT was directed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a 32-year-old man, who went into medical distress and later died following a period of custody at the Wood Buffalo South Policing Facility in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

On May 11, 2017, RCMP officers entered and searched a residence in Fort McMurray as part of a drug trafficking investigation. Once inside the residence, police located the 32-year-old man behind a locked door to one of the residence’s suites. Police negotiated with the man through the locked door, and ultimately, the man voluntarily emerged from the suite. Inside that residence, they located numerous items consistent with drug trafficking and the man was placed under arrest. The man was only wearing underwear upon arrest, and officers located clothing for him and assisted him in dressing, as he was handcuffed. RCMP transported the man to the Wood Buffalo South Policing Facility, and although the officers who dealt with him upon arrest and during transport observed some signs consistent with intoxication, there were no medical concerns based upon the man’s presentation and behaviour. Upon arrival at the facility, the man was searched, provided access to a phone, and placed inside a holding cell.

Once the man was booked into the holding facility, his movements were captured on CCTV video, providing a detailed record of the man’s time in custody. The majority of this time was unremarkable, however on two occasions, the man’s condition or behaviour raised concern with the civilian guards at the facility, and on those occasions, RCMP officers immediately responded to the man’s cell to check on his well-being. On one occasion, when the man appeared to be having some respiratory issues, EMS attended with the RCMP member but the man refused treatment, repeatedly indicating that he only had a cold. Based on subsequent observations made by an officer, a strip search was conducted but did not reveal any illicit substances on his person.

In the early hours of May 13, 2017, the man asked to call his lawyer again, and was taken to the phone room to make a call. While in the phone room, the man went into medical distress. RCMP officers immediately responded to the phone room, contacted EMS, and provided first aid to the man. EMS arrived minutes later, assumed care of the man, and transported him to hospital, where the man was later pronounced deceased.

An autopsy determined the cause of death was cocaine and fentanyl toxicity. Post-mortem toxicology reports revealed a potentially lethal level of cocaine in the man’s bloodstream, as well as metabolites of both cocaine and fentanyl. A small, torn “baggie” consistent with drug packaging was located inside the man’s stomach at autopsy.

While it is impossible to determine with absolute certainty, based on the evidence, it is a reasonable inference the man used the brief period of advance awareness of his forthcoming arrest to conceal drugs within his body that later led to him going into medical distress and ultimately resulted in his death. This tragic conclusion is only available through the compilation of the observations of numerous individual witnesses, the analysis of dozens of hours of CCTV footage, an autopsy and post-mortem toxicology analysis that provide a complete picture of what was a medical death. It is this hindsight that allows for an understanding of why the man died.

In all of the circumstances, while the man’s death is unquestionably tragic, the actions of the officers who dealt with him demonstrated concern for his well-being and responsiveness to his medical needs. The care and supervision provided to the man was reasonable and demonstrates genuine concern for his safety. There are no reasonable grounds to believe the conduct of any officer would constitute a criminal offence. As such, no charges will be laid in this case.

Related Topics:ASIRT Fort McMurray RCMP Wood Buffalo

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Published on December 18, 2025

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From The Center Square

By Chris Wade

Rhode Island officials said the suspected gunman in the Brown University mass shooting has been found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, more than 50 miles away in a storage facility in southern New Hampshire.

The shooter was identified as Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, a 48-year-old Brown student and Portuguese national. Neves-Valente was found dead with a satchel containing two firearms inside in the storage facility, authorities said.

“He took his own life tonight,” Providence police chief Oscar Perez said at a press conference, noting that local, state and federal law officials spent days poring over video evidence, license plate data and hundreds of investigative tips in pursuit of the suspect.

Perez credited cooperation between federal state and local law enforcement officials, as well as the Providence community, which he said provided the video evidence needed to help authorities crack the case.

“The community stepped up,” he said. “It was all about groundwork, public assistance, interviews with individuals, and good old fashioned policing.”

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the “person of interest” identified by private videos contacted authorities on Wednesday and provided information that led to his whereabouts.

“He blew the case right open, blew it open,” Neronha said. “That person led us to the car, which led us to the name, which led us to the photograph of that individual.”

“And that’s how these cases sometimes go,” he said. “You can feel like you’re not making a lot of progress. You can feel like you’re chasing leaves and they don’t work out. But the team keeps going.”

The discovery of the suspect’s body caps an intense six-day manhunt spanning several New England states, which put communities from Providence to southern New Hampshire on edge.

“We got him,” FBI special agent in charge for Boston Ted Docks said at Thursday night’s briefing. “Even though the suspect was found dead tonight our work is not done. There are many questions that need to be answered.”

He said the FBI deployed around 500 agents to assist local authorities in the investigation, in addition to offering a $50,000 reward. He says that officials are still looking into the suspect’s motive.

Two students were killed and nine others were injured in the Brown University shooting Saturday, which happened when an undetected gunman entered the Barus and Holley building on campus, where students were taking exams before the holiday break. Providence authorities briefly detained a person in the shooting earlier in the week, but then released them.

Investigators said they are also examining the possibility that the Brown case is connected to the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in his hometown.

An unidentified gunman shot MIT professor Nuno Loureiro multiple times inside his home in Brookline, about 50 miles north of Providence, according to authorities. He died at a local hospital on Tuesday.

Leah Foley, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, was expected to hold a news briefing late Thursday night to discuss the connection with the MIT shooting.

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Bondi Beach Survivor Says Cops Prevented Her From Fighting Back Against Terrorists

Published on December 17, 2025

Todayville

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Harold Hutchison

A woman who survived the Hanukkah terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in Australia said on Monday that police officers seemed less concerned about stopping the attack than they were about keeping her from fighting back.

A father and son of Pakistani descent opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration Sunday, killing at least 15 people and wounding 40, with one being slain on the scene by police and the other wounded and taken into custody. Vanessa Miller told Erin Molan about being separated from her three-year-old daughter during Monday’s episode of the “Erin Molan Show.”

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“Two police officers,” Miller continued. “Where were the others? Not there. Nobody was there.”

New South Wales Minister of Police Yasmin Catley did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation about Miller’s comments.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to enact further restrictions on guns in response to the attack at Bondi Beach, according to the Associated Press. The new restrictions would include a limit on how many firearms a person could own, more review of gun licenses, limiting the licenses to Australian citizens and “additional use of criminal intelligence” to determine if a license to own a firearm should be granted.

Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, reportedly went to the Philippines, where they received training prior to carrying out the Sunday attack, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Naveed Akram’s vehicle reportedly had homemade ISIS flags inside it.

Australia passed legislation that required owners of semi-automatic firearms and certain pump-action firearms to surrender them in a mandatory “buyback” following a 1996 mass shooting in Port Arthur, Tasmania, that killed 35 people and wounded 23 others. Despite the legislation, one of the gunmen who carried out the attack appeared to use a pump-action shotgun with an extended magazine.