Man, 24, dies after balcony fall during Edmonton police incident: ASIRT

UPDATE: ASIRT released its final report on this incident on July 19, 2024, concluding “The use of force by the subject officers… (was) proportionate, necessary and reasonable in all of the circumstances.” Original coverage below.

A 24-year-old man died in hospital over the weekend, after he fell from a fourth-storey balcony during a police incident in west Edmonton on May 14.

According to a Tuesday release from the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which is investigating the incident, Edmonton police were called around 3:30 a.m. to the apartment at 170 Street and 64 Avenue in the Callingwood area.

Officers were responding to a possible assault, and Edmonton police said the person who called 911 reportedly heard yelling and screaming in the apartment suite.

ASIRT said when officers arrived, “events occurred that resulted in the officers attempting to force entry into the suite,” and that officers then had a confrontation with the 24-year-old man using several “less-lethal use of force options”.

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The news release said the man then went to the suite’s balcony, where he fell or jumped four storeys.

“Independent evidence would suggest that no officers were on the balcony at the time,” the ASIRT statement said.

The man suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital, where he died two days later on Saturday, May 16.

There were three other people in the suite at the time: a 28-year-old woman, a 24-year-old woman, and a two-year-old child.

ASIRT’s investigation is working to determine whether police actions caused or contributed to the man’s death.

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Investigators are asking anyone who was in the area of 170 Street and 64 Avenue around 3:30 a.m. Thursday who witnessed or who has any video of these events to contact ASIRT by calling 780-644-1483.

ASIRT investigates incidents involving Alberta law enforcement agencies that result in serious injury or death, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.