Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating the death of a 40-year-old man early Tuesday morning in the village of Lakefield, north of Peterborough.
The Special Investigations Unit says Peterborough Police Service officers were called to an apartment on Queen Street at around 1:30 a.m. as a woman reported her son was in distress.
The SIU says an officer who arrived at the scene saw the man holding a baseball bat outside the home, and the man struck the officer with the bat before going inside the apartment.
More officers arrived and tried to speak with the man, but the SIU says those efforts were unsuccessful, so they decided to breach the apartment door and found the man in the kitchen in medical distress.
Police and emergency medical service personnel provided first aid but the man, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The police watchdog says three investigators and one forensic expert have been assigned to probe the circumstances of the man’s death.
The SIU is urging anyone who may have information, including video or photos, to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529 or online.