Man, 35, dies after allegedly becoming unresponsive in Winnipeg police custody; IIU investigating
Posted January 28, 2024 3:45 pm.
Last Updated January 28, 2024 3:47 pm.
Winnipeg police say a 35-year-old man is dead after becoming unresponsive amid a domestic-related incident in the Crestview neighbourhood early Saturday morning.
Manitoba’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU), has assumed the investigation.
Winnipeg police Chief Danny Smyth says a woman called 911 at 12:05 a.m., describing her boyfriend as intoxicated and worried about her toddler and two infants.
There was yelling and commotion on the call, and reports of windows being smashed, Smyth says. The woman reportedly fled her suite – at the complex on Fairlane Avenue near Goswell Road – to another suite for safety.
Smyth says the woman called police back to say “her boyfriend had fallen down the stairs from their second-floor suite and was laying in the snow at the bottom of the stairs, and that he was slow to get up.”
“Another caller from the complex also informed call-takers that the male had wandered into the parking lot but had fallen,” Smyth added.
Officers arrived at 12:23 p.m. and found the man on the ground, the Winnipeg police chief alleges. After officers handcuffed him, the man allegedly went limp and an ambulance was called.
Paramedics took the man to hospital, where he died. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
“The police will engage with IIU as soon as possible so that family gets answers about what caused the death,” Smyth said.
The police chief said the man had no visible injuries and that he was not known to police.
