An Edmonton Police Service officer and two former Community Peace Officers have been charged after an internal investigation into a man’s in-custody death in March 2020.
On March 16, 2020, a 38-year-old man was found dead inside a cell in EPS’ former detainee management unit.
An autopsy determined he died from fentanyl toxicity.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) investigated and released a report on Oct. 12, 2022.
In his investigation, ASIRT assistant executive director Matthew Block determined that the required checks were not done by the community peace officers (CPOs) on the detainee.
The report said peace officers are required to conduct walk-around physical checks every 15 minutes and arousal checks every hour.
The two peace officers told Edmonton Police Service detectives that they conducted certain checks in the time leading up to the detainee’s death, but video from the cell showed they hadn’t, ASIRT found.
The video showed the officers on duty that day did not conduct a single arousal check on the detainee between 8:30 a.m. and 1:42 p.m.
“The CPOs on duty that day did not follow EPS policy, and then… appear to have tried to hide this,” the ASIRT report said.
However, ASIRT doesn’t have the jurisdiction over community peace officers.
“Any further action regarding them is the responsibility of EPS.”
So, after the ASIRT investigation, EPS investigators did a follow-up investigation, “which was sent to the Calgary Crown Prosecution Service for an opinion,” EPS said in a news release Tuesday.
Three people, who were working as community peace officers in the detainee unit at the time of the incident, have been charged.
Mathieu Labrie, 32; Jeffrey Mullenix, 52; and Const. Yi Yang, 35, were jointly charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life.
Const. Yang is currently on administrative leave with pay, EPS said Tuesday. The other two accused are not employed by the police service.