LA RONGE, Sask. – Officials from a town and health region in northern Saskatchewan are considering suggestions from a coroner’s inquest into the death of a man who had been in police custody.
Walter Clinton McKenzie of Brabant Lake died in a Saskatoon hospital in September 2010.
McKenzie, who was 32, had been picked up by RCMP officers at the La Ronge Health Centre and taken into custody.
He was found unresponsive in his cell and was airlifted to the hospital, where he died the following day.
A six-member inquest jury heard that McKenzie had a blood alcohol level seven times the legal limit and was suffering from a brain injury.
A pathologist testified that McKenzie died from a brain hemorrhage caused by blunt force trauma to his head. The injury happened some time before the police picked him up.
The jury urged the health region to buy a hand-held brain scanner, so that doctors can check for neurological problems.
Andrew McLetchie, CEO of the local health region, says officials are already discussing the idea about the brain scanner.
“The technology that is being referred to … is a very new technology and in some ways is still in the testing stage,” McLetchie said.
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“There is some discussion that had been happening prior to the inquest that some of our physicians have been involved in, looking to see whether or not having this device up here for a period of time would be helpful to provide a better service to people in the community”.
The jury also recommended that the town and health region work together to set up an overnight shelter that would employ medical caregivers to give homeless or intoxicated people a safe place to go.
La Ronge Mayor Thomas Sierzycki said he supports the idea, but it could be complicated.
“We do have some jurisdictional chaos in northern Saskatchewan because there are a lot of service providers and there are a lot of unique programs happening” he said.
The coroner’s jury also advised the Mounties to take care to enforce their own policies about doing physical checks on prisoners.
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