A Comox Valley RCMP officer acted properly last August in a case where a man ended up dying by suicide, says the Independent Investigations Office of B.C.
The office is called in to evaluate incidents involving police that result in death or serious injury.
The case began Aug. 17 when officers executed a search warrant at a home. They were called back to the residence 12 hours later and discovered a man there had killed himself.
The decision from Ronald MacDonald, the IIO’s chief civilian director, said the search began at 8:10 a.m. and officers were investigating a range of offences. An officer and the man who later died began a conversation that lasted close an hour, and got into personal issues, with the man at one point saying he wanted to kill himself.
The officer told the man that police had to take such statements very seriously.
“And if you really feel that way, then it’s my obligation as a human being and a police officer to make sure that you are safe,” the officer said, as heard on an audio recording of the talk. “Because above and beyond any of this, you’re still a human.”
After more conversation, the man said he no longer wanted to kill himself and told the officer he had reasons to live, giving examples.
The officer told his colleagues about what the man had said and that he felt it was safe for them to leave. None of the other officers saw the man as distraught.
Police were called back to the home when one of the man’s roommates said he hadn’t seen him all day and was concerned. Officers arrived and found the man dead in his bedroom from an overdose.
A suicide note said: “I told blond cop this was going to happen.”
MacDonald said he had to consider whether the man should have been apprehended and taken to hospital under the Mental Health Act. He said the officer was clearly concerned about the man and asked many questions to gauge his feelings.
“A police officer is not held to a legal standard of perfection when making assessments about a person’s mental health,” MacDonald said. “Instead, their decisions are based on reasonableness and any departures from the standard of reasonableness must be marked and substantial in order to be a criminal offence.”
MacDonald said the reasons given by the man for wanting to live were significant “and could have been believed by anyone, including a reasonable police officer.”
