Edmonton police cleared of wrongdoing after man fatally overdoses in holding cell

There are no grounds to lay criminal charges in the death of a man who fatally overdosed in an Edmonton police cell nearly five years ago, Alberta’s police watchdog has ruled.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) on Wednesday released its report on the case of an unidentified 36-year-old man who died in police custody Feb. 6, 2021.

Police arrested the man after being dispatched to a “family fight” at a housing complex at 60 Street and 35A Avenue near Hillview Park in southeast Edmonton. Officers were asked for help “removing unwanted person from the residence” and were told the suspect had a sawed-off shotgun, ASIRT acting executive director Matthew Block wrote in the report.

The report notes the suspect was reportedly wearing “a bunch of chains.”

Two officers arrived and found the man. He gave his name to police but soon became argumentative and refused to take his hands out of his pockets. Police told the man he was under arrest for public intoxication and handcuffed him without issue.

Once in cuffs, the man told police he had a shotgun in his backpack. A third officer opened the bag and found the loaded weapon — later determined to have been stolen — as well as additional shells. A search of the man’s name revealed he was prohibited from possessing firearms, Block said.

While on the way to the southeast division police station, the man began acting erratically, banging his head against the window, kicking the seat and slipping his handcuffs from behind his back. Officers managed to adjust the handcuffs, after which he began smashing his head into the plexiglass divider. They eventually arrived at the station and locked the man in a cell at 8:13 p.m.

Once in the cell, the man sat on the floor with his arms and feet crossed for the rest of the night. A civilian guard conducted the required 15-minute checks consistently, Block said, and noticed nothing amiss.

When the guard and another officer went to bring the prisoner a sandwich just before 6 a.m., however, his head lolled backwards.

Despite chest compressions and other life saving efforts, the man remained unconscious and was pronounced dead later that morning.

An officer who provided first aid later noticed a small brown pebble near the man, which toxicology testing determined to be a mix of methamphetamine and carfentanil, a synthetic opioid usually used to sedate large animals like elephants.

Block concluded the officers who interacted with the victim played no role in his death. While the civilian guard did not follow exact procedure for alternating between visual and physical checks of the prisoner, he was effectively under “constant” supervision and showed no signs of medical distress. Block noted that during one period, the guard performed more than the required number of visual checks on the victim.

“There is no evidence of negligence or failing to provide the necessaries of life,” he wrote.

ASIRT has investigated several cases in recent years in which people have died in EPS holding cells.

In January 2024, an intoxicated man died in custody at police’s northwest division. In 2023, three peace officers were charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life after a man overdosed on smuggled fentanyl in 2022, though the charges were stayed last year.

jwakefield@postmedia.com

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@jonnywakefield.bsky.social

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