'Hearing that was brutal': Witness speaks out after EMDC inmate dies in custody

A man says he witnessed a violent altercation at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) last month, the same night police say a man was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.

Wes Simpson was at the EMDC the night of Sept. 12, in the cell next to the person he believes was the victim taken to hospital that night.

“We heard yelling,” Simpson tells CTV News London in an exclusive interview. “Me and the guy underneath me, we both woke up to it and then there was a big bang.”

He says that “bang” sounded like someone being dragged off the top bunk in the next cell over, and slamming to the ground.

From there, he says it sounded like a fight broke out. At one point, he remembers hearing someone shout, “I’m going to gouge your eyes out and make you eat them.”

“Hearing that was brutal,” says Simpson.

It was after the lights had been turned off for the night, he says, and the commotion ended before any guards came to check on the situation. About 15 to 20 minutes later, Simpson says correctional officers came through for a routine check, only to pull what appeared to be a seriously injured man out of the cell.

“His chest was pretty red, and then his eye,” says Simpson. “He was bleeding from his eye.”

When he got a chance to see the cell next to his, Simpson says there was blood everywhere.

Emergency crews were called, performing chest compressions on the man pulled from the cell before taking him away, Simpson adds.

A London Police Services press release says an unresponsive man was taken to hospital the same night this took place, where he was later pronounced dead.

Simpson believes this to be the same person, someone he briefly got to know in the days leading up to the altercation.

“That guy was just too happy to just throw himself out like that,” he says.

Investigators have not released an official cause of death for the man who died in hospital. In the absence of concrete information, Simpson says he wants to get his experience out there to combat any rumours of what might have happened.

“I don’t believe it was a suicide,” he says.

London police tell CTV News London the incident is part of an active investigation, but they are not offering any further details at this time.

The Ministry of Justice also initiates an investigation whenever an inmate dies in custody. A ministry spokesperson tells CTV News London those take place after any police investigations conclude, take six to nine months to complete, and the findings will not be made public.