Alberta’s police watchdog is investigating after a man under arrest for public intoxication was found dead inside his cell at a south Edmonton police station early Tuesday morning.
The Edmonton Police Service said officers were called around 4 a.m. to a “trouble with person” call at a gas station near 51 Avenue and 122 Street.
It was reported to police that a man who appeared to be high on drugs had entered the gas station and was “behaving in an agitated manner.”
Police said the middle-aged man was taken into custody and placed in a cell to be held until sober at the EPS southwest division station, located just off Terwillegar Drive on Windermere Way S.W.
A few hours later around 7 a.m., the man was found unresponsive in his cell. EMS was immediately called and pronounced the man dead on scene, police said. At the time, police said it had not confirmed the man’s identity.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team was called in to investigate the in-custody death. On Wednesday, the agency said the date of birth the man provided at the time of arrest was incorrect, but later officials were able to determine the man was 48 years old.
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.
— More to come…