(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
December 10, 2021 - 12:30 PM
The B.C. police watchdog is asking the B.C. Prosecution Service to consider charging an RCMP officer who tasered a 38-year-old man who later died in hospital.
According to an Independent Investigations Office of B.C. media release issued Dec. 10, the officer may have committed a criminal offence through their use of force and that may have contributed to the man’s death.
According to the police watchdog in October 2019, officers in Kelowna were called to a report of an erratic driver on Highway 97 near Lake Country. The vehicle was said to be straying from its lane.
READ MORE: Man tasered by police near Sicamous in critical condition; police watchdog deployed
Police tried to stop the vehicle but failed, with the driver allegedly just missing a police officer as it fled. The vehicle later stopped near Sicamous but again fled before police could intervene.
When officers tried to arrest the man northeast of Sicamous near Malakwa, he allegedly resisted. Police then tasered the 38-year-old and handcuffed him before he went into medical distress.
He died in hospital the following day on Oct. 29, 2019.
The Independent Investigations Office has forwarded the file to the B.C. Prosecution Service for consideration of charges.
"In order to approve any charges, the B.C. Prosecution Service must be satisfied that there is a substantial likelihood of conviction based on the evidence gathered by the Independent Investigations Office, and that prosecution be required in the public interest," the release says.
No other information has been released.
The Independent Investigations Office 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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