B.C.’s police watchdog has cleared officers of any wrongdoing after a man was seriously injured in police cells in Nanaimo.
The man was arrested Dec. 8 from a Nanaimo business. While still in cells on Dec. 10, he experienced a medical event that caused him to fall and be seriously injured, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. said.
Video footage showed that no force was used against the man during his arrest and the entirety of his time in cells, and he was the only person in the cell during his time in custody.
There was no indication he was about to experience a medical event leading up to the incident, the IIO said.
After reviewing video footage of the arrest scene and RCMP cells, medical records and police information, the IIO concluded there was no link between police actions or inaction and there was no evidence to support that force was used by police.
The IIO, an independent civilian oversight agency of police in B.C., investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is an allegation of wrongdoing.
