REGINA — The Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) have concluded their investigation after a man who was in police custody, was found non-responsive in his cell on Aug. 22, 2023, and later died in hospital.
The report dated May 14, 2025, showed there are no grounds to believe any police officer committed any Criminal Code offence during the course of this incident and no charges will be laid.
The autopsy for the affected person showed he died as a result of acute methamphetamine toxicity.
The report indicated the affected person presented at the Regina Police Service (RPS) building at 10:07 a.m. on Aug. 21, 2023, to turn himself in as he had two outstanding warrants from the File Hills Police Service.
The affected person was searched and he stated he had no medical condition and was not suicidal. He also denied consuming any drugs within the preceding 24 hours.
When the affected person was placed in his cell, his behaviour was described as “relatively consistent” until around 7:40 p.m., when minor changes in his behaviour began to appear.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 22, 2023, the affected person’s behaviour continued to worsen, and he complained of fever, tremors and body aches.
The detention paramedic believed the symptoms were related to withdrawal from narcotics. Then, at about 2:31 p.m. the paramedic provided the affected person with some non-prescription pain medication to help with their symptoms.
At 3:45 a.m., police and the paramedic entered the affected person’s cell and immediately placed him in the recovery position. Then, at about 3:52 a.m. the person appeared to have stopped breathing and CPR was started. At about 4:14 a.m. the affected person was removed from the RPS detention area by stretcher and transported to hospital.
At the hospital, a scan revealed six packages contained within the affected person’s body. Five of the six packages were removed during the treatment. The sixth package couldn’t be removed. At about 4:48 p.m. the affected person was pronounced deceased.
The SIRT report indicated that “no use of force by police occurred at any point during the affected person’s arrest or detention.”
“Based on the evidence gathered, it appears highly likely that the affected person’s reason for taking this action [turning himself in] was to attempt to smuggle controlled substances into a correctional facility.”
The report went on to say “both the recognition of the affected person’s medical condition and later attempted treatment of that condition were reasonable.”
“Following a review of the totality of the evidence in this case, there are no grounds to believe any police officer committed any Criminal Code offence during the course of this incident and no charges will be laid,” the report said.
