MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Ontario’s police watchdog agency says no charges are reasonable in the death of man last year while under guard at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre awaiting deportation.
The Special Investigations Unit says Ontario Provincial Police and Peterborough Police Service officers were guarding the 39-year-old refugee claimant who suffered from significant mental health issues, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
On the night of June 10, 2015, two officers, five nurses, and three security guards entered the “isolation room” where the man, who had been smearing his feces on the bed, his face, his forehead, and his arms was being held to sedate him.
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Early the next morning, the officers and four nurses entered the room in order to clean the room and the man awoke, ate some feces and threw it about the room, and the officers restrained the man to prevent him from throwing anything else.
While being restrained, the SIU says the man kicked, hit, and grabbed at the nurses who were attempting to clean him and his bedding – he suddenly stopped moving and resuscitation efforts failed.
SIU director Tony Loparco says neither officer did anything that could reasonably satisfy the essential offence element of causation, and there was no medical evidence of any obstruction of the man’s airway, nor was there any evidence of pressure having been exerted on his neck or chest.
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