The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU) has concluded its investigation after a female sustained an injury while in custody at the RCMP detachment in Portage la Prairie.
On June 2, RCMP reported an incident to the IIU that occurred earlier that day. According to the notification, at approximately 2:31 p.m. while in custody, a female was observed going into medical distress. An RCMP officer conducted a well-being check and the female was subsequently transported to Portage District General Hospital and then to Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg for further care.
As this matter concerned a serious injury as defined under the IIU regulations, the IIU assumed responsibility for this investigation in accordance with Sec. 66(4) of the Police Services Act.
The civilian director deferred the designation of any officers as a subject officer until more information was received through the investigation. This decision was re-evaluated and no officers were designated.
After reviewing the information received from the RCMP and the affected person, it has been determined the RCMP and its officers were not responsible for, nor did they take any action that contributed to, the serious injury suffered by the affected person. The involved officers provided an appropriate medical care response once it was identified the affected person required medical attention.
Therefore, given the evidence does not demonstrate the affected person suffered a “serious injury” as defined in the IIU regulations (99/2015) as a result of interaction with police, this incident no longer meets the IIU’s mandate.
Accordingly, there is no further need for the IIU to investigate this incident and the matter will now be considered concluded.
