Williams Lake RCMP under investigation by police watchdog

The Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia has launched an investigation after a man went into medical distress while he was lodged in an RCMP cell in Williams Lake.

The man was arrested, Nov. 13, and was locked in the RCMP cells. At about 7:35 p.m. Nov. 15, he went into medical distress, according to an independent investigations office media release issued today, Nov. 21.

The investigation will determine what role, if any, police actions or inactions may have played in the man’s condition.

The investigator is asking anyone with relevant information or video footage regarding the incident to call the Witness Line toll-free at 1-855-446-8477 or via the contact form on the IIO website here.

The IIO is the independent civilian oversight agency of the police in B.C. It investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics

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