Deanna Whitecap's cause of death 'undetermined': forensic pathologist

On Tuesday, a coroner's inquest into the death of Deanna Whitecap heard from a part-time prison guard who was working at the Indian Head RCMP detachment the day she died. 

69-year-old Larry Nerbas, a retired meat cutter who worked at the detachment as a guard and lived nearby, kept detailed notes on Whitecap and the other prisoners under his supervision.

Whitecap was found unresponsive in her cell on Sept. 2, 2017. She was later pronounced dead at the nearby Indian Head Union Hospital. 

During 15-minute increments Nerbas would look at the monitors in front of him showing feeds of the cells in the detachment and would make notes as to what the prisoners were doing. He logged when she got up to go to the bathroom, to drink water, when Cst. Evan Bambridge took her out of her cell to question her and when she appeared to be sleeping. He recorded when she had a blanket covering her and which side she was sleeping on.

But Nerbas didn't notice the moment she died. 

I'm still trying to recover. I don't want this to ever happen again in my lifetime or anyone's lifetime.- Larry Nerbas

Whitecap was found dead in an Indian Head RCMP cell on Sept. 2, 2017. Now her death is the subject of a coroner's inquest into how the 46-year-old died. A six person jury is tasked with determining how, why and where she died with the possibility of making recommendations to prevent a similar death in the future. 

Nerbas identified an issue before Whitecap died in the Indian Head cell. The blankets prisoners were given were quite heavy and when monitoring prisoners via monitor he found it hard to see if they were breathing. Still, Nerbas tried to check on her by looking through the window of her cell and kicking the door until other prisoners told him to knock it off. 

"I just assumed she was asleep," he said. "We can't tell if they're breathing."

The day before she died Whitecap was arrested on suspicion of impaired driving and driving while disqualified by Bambridge, a 10-year member of the RCMP. The next day, Whitecap was ordered to be released from custody.

With no other officers at the detachment, Cst. Larry Bigknife, a 25-year RCMP veteran with the File Hill Police was called into work early to release Whitecap. 

When he got to the cells he thought she was sleeping. He called out her name in an attempt to rouse her but she didn't move. She was on the cell's bed, covered with a blanket facing toward the wall. He shook her shoulder and called out her name but he said that by the colour of her skin he could tell something was wrong. That's when he noticed that she wasn't breathing. 

Bigknife called EMS and started to administer CPR. Bambridge was alerted over the radio that there was "a woman unresponsive in cells" and headed back to the station. When EMS arrived Bambridge was asked to help with ventilation and rode with EMS to the nearby hospital. He said that he did CPR "'till they told me to stop."

'It shook me real bad'

Forensic pathologist Andreea Nistor said that Whitecap's cause of death was unclear after the autopsy and toxicology. There was no trauma suffered leading up to her death and there were no drugs or alcohol in her system at the time of death.

Nistor outlined three probable causes of death, cardiac arrhythmia, a seizure — the cause of which is unknown — or issues arising from a fatty liver. Nistor watched the footage from Whitecap's cell and said it appeared that on Sept. 2 she experienced a seizure while in cells, but was unable to definitively say what caused it. 

Nistor said that in some cases people experiencing withdrawal from alcohol can experience seizures, but wasn't able to say conclusively that what Whitecap experienced was from withdrawal. 

At the end of his testimony on Tuesday, Nerbas asked to address Whitecap's family, who were in attendance at the inquest. He said he is sorry this happened and that working in the cells, and going past the cell where she died still affects him to this day. 

"I'm still trying to recover. I don't want this to ever happen again in my lifetime or anyone's lifetime," he said. "It shook me real bad."

The inquest is expected to wrap up on Wednesday.