RCMP mistakes stroke victim for drunk, leaving him in jail cell for hours, lawsuit says

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WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO

Feb 17, 2020

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CBC News

WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO. Alan Ruel was virtually ignored by officers and guards for 18 hours as he suffered a massive stroke, a lawsuit says. He was arrested by RCMP for being drunk in a public place even though he says he hadn't had a drink.


An expert in policing says the evidence "speaks strongly" to violations of the RCMP's standard operating procedures.

Curt Griffiths has been hired by Ruel's lawyer as an expert in a $6-million civil case against the police force, the government agencies that run it, and the officers involved.

"I think there are some major lapses here, beginning with how Mr. Ruel [was] classified as a severely impaired person," said Griffiths, who has studied police policy for decades and now works as a professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University in B.C.

"[RCMP] kept with that assumption for the next 18 hours in spite of evidence that there is a person undergoing a medical crisis," a mistake the RCMP has made before, he said.

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On July 16, 2015, Ruel suffered a small "disorienting event," according to the lawsuit, likely an initial stroke, causing him to slur his speech and be confused.

In that state, he entered a bar to visit the owner, who was a friend. His clothing was dishevelled, his pants undone and his vehicle was parked on the sidewalk.

According to police reports, a bar employee assumed he had arrived drunk — since Ruel had only had a glass of water at the bar — kicked Ruel out and called police. The arresting officer reported smelling alcohol on Ruel's breath.

Ruel says he told officers he wasn't drunk and asked for a breathalyzer test but was denied.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...tank-1.5459539



"If in doubt," the manual reads, "call for immediate medical assistance." Griffiths, the police policy expert, says the case shows that problems persist with how police handle prisoners, despite high-profile cases shedding light on the issues.

Almost nine years ago, 43-year-old Raymond Silverfox was ridiculed and mocked by RCMP officers during the final hours of his life in the Whitehorse detachment's drunk tank.

A coroner's inquest found Silverfox vomited dozens of times in his cell during the 13 hours he was in custody, but officers assumed he was drunk and didn't get medical attention until someone noticed he wasn't moving.

Silverfox died hours later in hospital of acute pneumonia. "There have been several high-profile deaths in cells in recent years, so this is not a kind of a shadow issue that's just now emerging," Griffiths says, referring to Silverfox, Robert Stone, and Debralee Chrisjohn, all of whom died in police custody.
 
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