Nelson police to conduct in-custody death inquiry in Cranbrook
By Nelson Daily Editor
By Timothy Schafer, The Nelson Daily
Officers of the Nelson Police Department will be conducting an investigation into an in-custody death of a 36-year-old man who was taken into custody on Christmas Eve by RCMP in Cranbrook.
The Mounties in Cranbrook have called in the NPD as an external police agency to investigate the apparent suicide of the man who was arrested and brought to the RCMP detachment after a domestic-violence investigation on Dec. 24, said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk in a release issued earlier today.
“The individual was lodged in cells and after a brief period the guard performed a cell check via the closed-circuit camera monitor and noted that the man was remaining standing by the cell bars motionless,” said Moskaluk in the release.
The man was found to be non-responsive, allegedly having tried to kill himself using a T-shirt tied to the cell bars.
After paramedics arrived he was rushed to Cranbrook Regional Hospital and then to Kelowna Hospital, where he was put on life support before he died on Monday.
The file on the incident now lies with the Nelson Police Department and the B.C. Coroners Service. NPD Sgt. Howie Grant said the Nelson force has been involved as an external agency before in other inquiries, and that experience led to them being called upon in this instance.
