ASIRT says Calgary officer not responsible for man's death after police confrontation

An officer who kneed a Calgary man in the torso multiple times was not responsible for that man's death, the provincial police watchdog said in a new report, while also concluding blunt-force trauma was the primary cause of death.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) was called to investigate after a man died in hospital on July 10, 2021, two days after a police interaction in the northeast community of Abbeydale. An autopsy on the 37-year-old was conducted on July 13.

"It was determined that the immediate cause of death was blunt force traumatic injuries, with other significant conditions contributing to the death, but not causally related to the immediate cause being liver cirrhosis and acute ethanol intoxication," ASIRT executive director Michael Ewenson wrote in the report released Wednesday.

The Calgary Police Service dispatched an officer to the 100 block of Abalone Way N.E. after a parent said a man in a truck was trying to talk with children. ASIRT concluded the man was just looking for directions to visit a sick friend.

The suspect was not co-operative with the responding officer, police said, refusing to provide identification and appearing to be under the influence of an intoxicant.

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"During this investigation, a struggle ensued between [the officer] and [the suspect]. [The man] was taken to the ground and [the officer] delivered some knee strikes to the torso.… [The man] yelled out that the officer had broken his ribs," the report states.

The officer refused to drive the man to hospital, stating EMS would check him out at the scene. Paramedics tried to transport the man to the South Health Campus but he refused, stating he wanted to go only to the Peter Lougheed Centre.

The suspect signed a waiver stating he declined EMS transportation and was taken home by the officer, ASIRT said.

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The man admitted himself to Peter Lougheed early on July 9, 2021, but was transferred to Foothills Medical Centre for surgery, where staff later determined he would not survive as a result of the injuries and previously diagnosed end-stage liver disease.

"It is my opinion that [the officer] was lawfully placed and acting properly in the execution of his duties. There is no evidence to support any inference that he engaged in any unlawful or unreasonable conduct that would give rise to a criminal offence. The force used was necessary, reasonable and proportionate in all the circumstances, notwithstanding the tragic outcome," Ewenson concludes in the report.

ASIRT is a provincial agency that investigates serious allegations of police misconduct and when death or serious injury may have been caused by police.