SIU concludes investigation into overdose death in London, Ont. cell

The province’s Special Investigations Unit. (File photo)

The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, found no reasonable grounds to believe a London Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with a drug overdose suffered by a 35-year-old man while in custody in August.

On August 20, officers arrested the man in relation to a reported break and enter.

They said the man was taken to the police station and told the officers he had taken fentanyl earlier in the day. Police said fentanyl was also found during a search of his backpack.

Martino said the man was put into a cell and checked every 20 minutes. About 90 minutes later, he was found unresponsive. Emergency care was provided until paramedics arrived, and he was taken to hospital.

The man was admitted to hospital for treatment of a drug overdose.

Martino found it arguable that the man ought to have been sent directly to hospital or subjected to more frequent monitoring while in cells given what the officer knew of his fentanyl use.

That said, Martino’s report indicated that the man appeared coherent and in control of his faculties at the time he was booked. So, Martino found the evidence fell short of any suggestion that the officer transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law.

Martino’s full report can be read here.