The province’s police oversight agency says it has found no reasonable grounds to believe an Ottawa police officer committed a criminal offence after a prisoner suffered an insulin overdose in police cells in June.
The case began on the evening of May 31 when a 52-year-old man was arrested for an alleged assault against an acquaintance.
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The man was taken to the police station and put in a cell.
At about 10:30 p.m., the man asked to take his insulin and was escorted to the special constable’s desk at the station, where he was allowed to self-administer the medication.
He was returned to the cell and at about 2:30 a.m. a special constable conducting cell checks found him on the floor, with laboured breathing.
When he was unable to revive the man, other officers were called and provided emergency first-aid.
Paramedics took charge of the man’s car and he was transported to hospital, intubated, and treated for altered consciousness and hypoglycemia brought about by an insulin overdose.
Director Joseph Martino found no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer responsible for the care of prisoners at the time “transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law in connection with the man’s time in custody.”
