Unarmed man punched, tackled by officers in altercation that ended in his death: police watchdog

WARNING: This story contains graphic details.

Calgary police tackled, punched and deployed "various uses of force" on an unarmed man who died in a police altercation earlier this month, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) said Wednesday.

The police watchdog released more details about its investigation into officers' use of force in the incident, which happened after police were called via the non-emergency line to the Carriage House Hotel and Conference Centre on Macleod Trail on Sept. 17, just before 1 a.m.

They were responding to reports of a man causing a disturbance and refusing to leave the hotel.

On Wednesday, ASIRT said the interaction between the man and the first officer at the hotel was caught on a body-worn camera.

The man was standing with his hands in full view and without any weapons when the officer arrived and ordered the man to leave, ASIRT said. The officer then pointed a stun gun at the man after 30 seconds of speaking with him while the man reacted in a confused way to the orders to leave.

ASIRT reported that the man raised his hands and confirmed he would leave, asking the officer not to shoot him, and while he began to leave the lobby he told the officer "I don't want to die." The officer, with his weapon still pointed at the man, told him to stop talking, ASIRT said.

After two more Calgary Police Service officers arrived on the scene, the man stopped walking while continuing to state he didn't want to die. The first officer holstered his weapon and attempted to grab him. 

ASIRT noted that by this point, the man had not been identified by police or told he was detained or under arrest.

The man resisted being grabbed before he was tackled by another officer, who punched him in the head, ASIRT said. During this time, the other two officers deployed their stun guns. Officers resorted to "various uses of force" during a physical struggle that lasted approximately 3½ minutes, ASIRT said, before the man was detained on the floor using handcuffs and leg restraints.

CPS's initial release on the incident said officers deployed a stun gun and pepper spray during the struggle.

Man lying face down, unresponsive

Numerous other CPS officers then arrived on the scene, ASIRT said, adding that the man was bleeding from the mouth and vomiting at this point. A spit mask was put on the man, and EMS administered a sedative while he was lying face down on the floor, approximately seven minutes after he had been handcuffed.

The man was left face down in restraints for another three minutes before he was noticed to be unresponsive. ASIRT said medical care was provided but he was declared dead at the scene.

CBC News has confirmed that the man who died in the Sept. 17 altercation with Calgary police was Jon Wells, 42, of the Blood Tribe in Alberta. Wells was a successful rodeo competitor and actively contributed to his community in his work with the Blood Tribe Ag Society.

Wells was at least the seventh Indigenous person to die after a police altercation in Canada in less than three weeks, from Aug. 29 to Sept. 17. In Alberta alone, Wells's death follows an incident where Hoss Lightning, 15, of Samson Cree Nation, was shot by RCMP in Wetaskiwin at the end of August.

The series of deaths prompted an emergency debate in federal parliament, last week as MPs called for policy solutions in response.

ASIRT executive director Michael Ewenson said body cameras worn by Calgary police officers at the scene led to ASIRT releasing more details about the investigation, just a little more than a week after it occurred.

"Due to the presence of body-worn cameras worn by the Calgary Police Service, we are able to verify facts much earlier in an investigation," Ewenson said via email. "In numerous cases this has led us to be able to clear officers more efficiently. In situations where we are still analyzing the circumstances of the event, we are able to provide more fulsome details to the public."

The police watchdog, which investigates whenever someone dies during a police interaction in Alberta, has said no additional information about the case will be released as the agency conducts its probe.