Article author:
Canadian Press
Bill Graveland
Calgary — Alberta man kills son in RCMP custody We are waiting for an answer as the State Police Observatory investigates the death of Mr.
Addison Hartzler, 30, was found dead in his RCMP holding cell in Grand, Alta, on June 3. He reported his trespassing at his home where he was staying.
Greg Hertzler said he was told his son was behaving "psychotic and delusional", but police did not call paramedics or seek medical attention.
"They did not seek any medical attention during the entire nine hours that he was in custody. He was never evaluated medically." Hertzler told the Canadian Press on Thursday.
"If they had done that, I think he would have gone straight from home to a hospital in Grand Prairie, not in a cell."
Although the incident was being investigated by the RCMP, Hertzler asked the Alberta Critical Incident Response Team to investigate.
He was only informed Wednesday that as of August 9, ASIRT had taken over the investigation.
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Hertzler said he wanted to know if the RCMP was at fault for his son's death and neglected to prevent other parents from having similar experiences. 58}
"Oh Lord, if we can defend this, I think that's probably the destiny of our lives," said Hertzler.
"It's horrible, both from a father's point of view and from a family's point of view. We expected him to come to our house that morning. I was planning to leave Grand Prairie to attend my brother's graduation," he said.
Hertzler said he had been in the Grande Prairie area, northwest of Edmonton, since April in search of work for his son. He said they spoke the day before his son's death, and the young Hertzler looked fine watching an NHL playoff game.
His father , said he was relieved that ASIRT was investigating.
"We believe that what ASIRT does will yield at least some better research. We hope that it will be more objective than that, and we expect a more thorough investigation," Hertzler said.
"In the end, every direction we turn shows negligence. As Canadians, we have to start saying enough is enough and the RCMP will not allow this kind of behavior."
An RCMP spokeswoman said it was not uncommon for special forces to investigate injuries to people in custody. rice field.
"What often happens is that the information about the investigation is an ongoing process, even though the information about the investigation is shared with the ASIRT. Or, as it progresses, you become more aware of the facts and information," Cpl said. Diana Fontaine.
"In this case, in the process, ASIRT made the decision to take it back." It said the initial decision was made to leave the investigation to the RCMP because of the shortage.
"ASIRT's funding issues were well known at the time, and in an effort to be completely transparent about the capacity challenges the agency was facing, in our interactions with the Hertzler family
"We can now confirm that the Director of Law Enforcement referred the case to ASIRT for investigation on August 9. As this matter is currently with ASIRT, the Alberta Attorney General and Attorney General are unable to provide further comment."
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