A man who died in Victoria police cells over the weekend had been arrested for public intoxication many times over the past few years, Victoria police said.
Usually, the Victoria man, who was part of the street community, would sober up in cells and leave without any problems, police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton said. But now the sa国际传媒 Coroner Service is investigating how the 48-year-old died in his cell Saturday night, just an hour after he was arrested for public intoxication.
About 7:30 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a call from someone driving by who said three people were passed out with beer bottles scattered around them near Hillside Avenue and Ross Lane.
The three -- two men and a woman -- were examined by ambulance paramedics before being arrested and jailed for public intoxication.
No force was used in the arrest, Hamilton said, and all three people were conscious at the time of their arrest and booking.
They were logged into the cells around 8 p.m. and 40 minutes later, an officer discovered that one of the men was unresponsive, Hamilton said. Police officers and jail staff immediately began CPR, but were unable to resuscitate him.
As a precaution, the other two arrested with him were immediately transported to hospital. They have since been released. The man, whose family did not want his name released, has also been taken to the Sobering Centre in the past, Hamilton said.
Whether police take a drunk person to the centre, which has medically-trained staff or to police cells depends on the circumstances, he said, which was echoed by Rev. Al Tysick, executive director of Our Place.
Some people are banned from the centre because of past behaviour, but Hamilton could not say if this individual was one of them.
Cheyenne Okemow, a street person who frequents the Hillside Avenue and Ross Lane area, said the man who died was a can-collector named Kevin. He would hang around the area to return bottles at the nearby liquor store, said Okemow, and has been living in Victoria for more than 10 years.
Jail staff monitor people in cells regularly, generally every 15 minutes, Hamilton said. Hamilton said the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, which examines all in-custody deaths, will investigate whether that protocol was followed.
Officers will also review the tape from the in-cell video camera and interview jail cell staff.
sa国际传媒's Police Complaint Commissioner also has been notified and a coroners inquest, mandatory for any in-custody death, will likely be announced next week.
A forensic autopsy is scheduled to be conducted this week to determine the cause of death.
The last death in police cells was in February 2006 when 48-year-old Tracee Ann Riches, a woman with a history of drug use, died shortly after she told jail cell staff she was not feeling well.
