Calgary police cleared of wrongdoing in woman's in-custody overdose

A Calgary police officer's uniform can be seen in a stock photo from Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022.

Alberta's police watchdog has cleared the Calgary Police Service (CPS) of any wrongdoing in their dealings with a woman who overdosed while in police custody. 

The woman was an Alpha House Society client. On May 22, 2020, her case worker called police saying she was concerned the woman would hurt herself.

Two officers responded to the addictions centre. After some discussion with the woman, police felt it necessary to, acting under the under the Mental Health Act, apprehend her for her own safety.

In a report on the incident released on Wednesday, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) noted the woman was "compliant" and went with the officers without any resistance.

One of the officers then transported her to the Rockyview General Hospital for assessment.

At the hospital, the officer sat with woman and completed the necessary paperwork for her to be admitted.

Later, she requested to go to the washroom and was escorted to one. ASIRT says the officer gave her privacy, and then, after about three minutes, she exited and was walked back to her chair.

Within a few minutes of sitting down, the woman began to lose consciousness.

Hospital staff administered a dose of NARCAN, but it failed to "reverse the effects of the suspected overdose."

The woman was taken into the trauma room for life-saving treatment.

At this time, the washroom the woman had used was searched and a syringe and tourniquet were found in the garbage can.

Staff were able to stabilize the woman and she was discharged from the hospital four days later.

ASIRT INVESTIGATION: WHY WAS SHE NOT SEARCHED?

In speaking with ASIRT, the woman admitted she had hidden drugs on her before the officers arrived at Alpha House.

She said even if officers had conducted a search of her they still would not have found the syringe – which contained a combination of heroin and fentanyl – and the tourniquet.

She said she had "hidden the drugs with the intent of eventual injection to kill herself."

ASIRT found the woman's decision to inject herself with a mixture of drugs was the sole reason for her medical issue while in the custody of the officer.

"One might question why (the woman) was not searched by the officers," said ASIRT in the report.

"However, even if the officers had conducted a pat-down search, it is doubtful that they would have found the items. As previously noted, (the woman) commented that had she been searched, the items would not have been found. This suggests that (she) had hid the items in a manner that would have evaded a pat-down search."

ASIRT noted that the circumstances didn't fit the grounds necessary for a strip search to be conducted, as outlined by the Supreme Court of Canada.

"There is no evidence to suggest that any offence had been committed by the CPS officers," ASIRT concluded.