RCMP cleared in 2024 death of man in custody in Prince George, B.C.

SURREY — British Columbia’s independent police watchdog has cleared Mounties in Prince George of wrongdoing in the death of a man in 2024 while in custody.

The Independent Investigations Office says the man was arrested on Nov. 6, last year by RCMP for public intoxication.

He became unresponsive while in the cells at the police station and died in hospital days later.

The agency’s investigation found through witness testimony and video evidence that the man was “resistant” while in custody, at times kicking the rear of a police vehicle, and taking a swing at and pushing officers at the station.

The investigation found officers pulled the man off a bench and onto the floor, with one officer punching him four times, while another handcuffed him, and he was taken to hospital after becoming unresponsive in a jail cell but died of cardiac arrest.

The office concluded in its report that there was no evidence that any officer failed in their duty of care towards the man.

The report says the autopsy did not note any injuries from the force used by police at the detention facility.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2025.