MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Ontario’s police watchdog says it’s probing the death of an 87-year-old woman in Clayton, Ont.
The Special Investigations Unit says the woman was attending a Remembrance Day ceremony at a local community centre when she went into undisclosed medical distress.
They say a provincial police officer performed CPR on the woman and gave her a dose of the opioid overdose-reversal drug naloxone.
The woman was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead.
News of the probe came shortly before the province announced it was amending the Police Services Act so police chiefs aren’t required to notify the SIU when an officer administers naloxone or other first aid to a person who doesn’t survive, provided there was no other action that could have caused the person’s death.
The province says that puts police officers on par with other first responders, who can carry and administer naloxone but don’t face the same level of oversight.