An investigation into the death of a person in the custody of the Prince George police may take months, according to the IIO.
Ron MacDonald, Civilian Director of the Independent Investigations Office, said the person who died on Friday in police custody was a woman in her mid 30’s. She may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“In matters such as this, we may need to determine what happened when and before the police arrived. In this case, we have a great deal of video from when the person arrived. We take quite a bit of time to analyze that in detail.”
They also need to confirm a cause of death with the coroner for the investigation.
“It’s difficult to take a definitive amount of time on any of these investigations, however, I would suggest that this one could be anywhere from a few weeks to many months.”
MacDonald could not comment on a cause of death at this time.
Original story:
The Prince George police are being investigated after a person died in their custody over the weekend.
The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) of B.C. said the RCMP reported that at around 11:30 p.m on Friday, July 19, a person was arrested for causing a disturbance and was taken into custody.
At about 4:30 the next morning, the person was observed in distress. Paramedics attended and the person was taken to hospital.
At 6:46 a.m, hospital staff informed the RCMP that the person was deceased.
The IIO will be investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
No more information is available at this time.
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