The head of B.C.乌鸦传媒檚 police watchdog office says a Kelowna RCMP officer 乌鸦传媒渓ikely crossed the criminal negligence threshold乌鸦传媒� in not properly conducting a wellness check in January 2024.
A report by Independent Investigations Office (IIO) Director Ron MacDonald states the officer failed to 乌鸦传媒減roperly comply with his sworn duty to protect life乌鸦传媒� regarding a wellness check on Jan. 10.
The officer was sent to an apartment building after an out-of-province call asking to check on an individual who was extremely sick.
Unable to find the person乌鸦传媒檚 buzzer number in the building directory, the officer left less than two and a half minutes later and told the caller to find someone else to check on their friend.
The report states the individual had no family or contacts in Kelowna. The building manager found a man dead in his apartment later that morning.
The same officer was sent back to the apartment to assist paramedics with a sudden death. A BC Coroners report states the death was from natural causes and occurred sometime on Jan. 9.
MacDonald乌鸦传媒檚 report states the officer almost immediately abandoned his investigation after being stopped by the building乌鸦传媒檚 front door.
乌鸦传媒淭here were other options he could have pursued but failed to take any, other than to call the complainant back to tell her to get someone else to the job he had been tasked to do,乌鸦传媒� the report reads.
MacDonald also writes that the officer could have tried to contact other residents, the manager, or the property owner.
乌鸦传媒淚ndeed a forced entry in these circumstances would quite likely have been appropriate.乌鸦传媒�
MacDonald notes the evidence indicates that the officer乌鸦传媒檚 to gain entry to the building 乌鸦传媒渄id not make any difference to the unfortunate outcome.乌鸦传媒�
He concludes that the officer乌鸦传媒檚 inactions 乌鸦传媒渕ay well constitute a breach of RCMP policy and practice, a matter for their professional standards branch to address.乌鸦传媒�
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