The jury in a coroner’s inquest has made several recommendations for the Prince Albert Police Service following the 2023 death of a Saskatchewan man during an arrest.
The jury called for the police service to use body-worn cameras, keys to be removed from vehicles during traffic stops, and one of a pair of paramedics to stay with a patient on arrival.
The inquest, which wrapped up Friday, looked into the death of 40-year-old Boden Umpherville, which gained public attention after a video of his 2023 arrest was shared on Facebook showing multiple officers pulling him from a car while shooting him 11 times with Tasers, striking him with batons, and using pepper spray and a K9 unit.
Jurors found he died at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon on April 26, 2023, due to brain death following asphyxia and cocaine use causing a cardiac arrest that led to significant hypoxia of the brain.
Jurors said the means by which he died were undetermined, meaning neither an accidental homicide nor a suicide. Saskatchewan’s chief forensic pathologist, Shaun Ladham, pointed to police use of force on April 1, 2023, as a possible contributing factor to Umpherville’s lack of oxygen.
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The inquest heard the incident began during a traffic stop near the 1200 block of 13th Street West involving a reportedly stolen car.
Officers said Umpherville resisted arrest and that the situation escalated, leading to an emergency alert drawing all officers on duty to the scene.
Ladham testified that in police dashcam footage, Umpherville said “I cannot breathe” twice and “help” five times without medical assessment for seven minutes after police forced him onto his stomach.
While paramedic Chris Pacey testified he first saw Umpherville lying on his stomach, with his hands cuffed behind his back and that he appeared to need medical assistance, officers have testified they had rolled Umpherville onto his side after handcuffing him.
Pacey also testified that police told him Umpherville was being aggressive and resisting police, then he found Umpherville to be limp while putting him on a stretcher to be restrained while assessing him.
“Any time there’s conflicting testimony, I’m concerned. And human memory can be frail, it can make mistakes, and memory can be fallible. But the video and audio doesn’t lie. We’ve got video,” Counsel to the family Peter Abrametz said.
“The SIRT officer gave evidence that flip-flopped that initially said that they were satisfied everything was done properly and then secondly said that they didn’t review policies and procedures. So I’ve got some concerns about that.”
Prince says the police force will also be reviewing policy following the inquest. Abrametz says that should have taken place during the 2023 SIRT investigation, which found no criminal wrongdoing by police.
Saskatoon Police Service Const. Michael Kot addressed the use of Tasers during the SIRT investigation into the incident.
Kot says officers used a Taser 7 and cartridges with a range of 1.2 to 3.7 metres, with police officers firing 11 times alongside warning arcs while trying to remove Umpherville from the car.
SIRT firearms expert and Saskatoon police officer Michael Johnson said a nine-millimetre handgun believed to be Umpherville’s was recovered from the scene. Evidence recovered the gun in a shoulder holster.
“I think a proper investigation of the policy and procedures needs to take place and that didn’t take place with SIRT and hopefully it will take place in the near future,” Abrametz said.
Price says although the SIRT investigation reviewed the incident, it’s too soon to answer the questions raised in the inquest.
“The SIRT investigation was a criminal investigation. And we’re talking about policies now, so that’s an administrative process, which is different,” Price said.
Prince was unable to confirm whether or not the recommendations would be implemented, or if the use-of-force policy would be reviewed.
Price said there would be challenges adopting the recommendation to remove car keys during a traffic stop.
“For us to implement mandatory key removal and a vehicle being turned off and key removal on every traffic stop, I think there’s going to be some challenges there,” Prince said.
Prince went on to say finding the budget for bodycams will be difficult even though discussions around their implementation have been ongoing for several years.
“It really is just a matter of finances right now and it’s going to take some extensive planning. It is part of our long-term strategic priorities,” Prince said.
Coroner inquest recommendations are not mandatory to implement.
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