THUNDER BAY — One of the officers who took Roland McKay into custody said he never should have been placed in a cell, but it was the only option left, highlighting a serious lack of detox services in the city.
“A sobering centre would be a huge asset for police and EMS,” said Thunder Bay Police Service Const. Paul Karpowich. “Someone like Mr. McKay who is intoxicated but cooperative didn’t need to be in a cell that night but I ran out of options.”
Karpowich was called to testify on Wednesday, the 10th day of the coroner’s inquest examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Don Mamakwa and McKay, who both died at the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters after being arrested for public intoxication.
Mamakwa, 44, of Kasabonika First Nation died on Aug. 3, 2014 and McKay, 50, of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, died on July 19, 2017.
Karpowich responded to a 911 call on the evening of July 19, 2017 for reports of an unconscious man behind a business at the Thunder Centre.
Superior North EMS was already on the scene and the two paramedics testified on Tuesday that an assessment of McKay was done that showed an elevated heart rate and blood pressure, but he refused to go to the hospital.
According to Karpowich, McKay wanted to be taken to a friend’s house and was transported there, but the individual McKay was looking for was not present and the residents did not want him left there.
The Balmoral Detox Centre was called but no beds were available for McKay.
“When you’re intoxicated in a public place and I have a concern for your safety I can arrest you and take you into custody for your safety. Before doing that, I like to and I think it’s actually a policy, to find other options if a person is cooperative. Like a detox facility to bring them, to a friend or family member,” Karpowich said.
“At that point, I had exhausted all my options and I had no choice but to take him into custody for public intoxication for his safety.”
When asked if there is an option to leave an individual where they are found instead of taking them into custody, Karpowich said it is not, particularly in this case.
“When we first came upon him at the Thunder Centre, it’s not a good place for someone in his state to be. The river is right there,” he said. “We’ve had numerous people who have drowned in that river, whether they are intoxicated or not. To fall asleep on the river bank is not a safe place to be. Once police get involved, now Mr. McKay’s safety is my responsibility. I can’t leave him there.”
McKay was placed in a cell at the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters and several hours later he stopped breathing. He was discovered by the relief jailer Const. Ryan Krupa, who began CPR.
A call was sent out through the police station requesting assistance in the cell block. When Karpowich arrived he took over chest compressions on McKay.
“It was a difficult thing to go through,” he said. “It was the first time I ever performed CPR on someone. It is something I will carry with me forever.”
Also called to testify on Wednesday was former Thunder Bay Police Service Const. Amy Druhar, who was working as the jailer that night.
As the person in charge of individuals in the cells, Druhar said she asks people brought into custody if they are on any medication or if they have any health issues.
“Once reviewing the footage, I recall [McKay] sitting there and dry heaving but he was able to answer me and shake his head no when I asked if he was on any medication or had any serious health issues,” she said. “I like to know if they have any health issues I need to be aware about in case there is something they didn’t tell the officers or didn’t tell the ambulance, I always ask that question.”
After McKay was placed in the cell, Druhar said she was monitoring the cell block on the video screens in her office and she noticed McKay was breathing rapidly.
She performed a physical check and believed he had a bad case of sleep apnea and informed the watch commander on duty.
Thunder Bay Police Services policies state that people in custody should be physically checked every 30 minutes and high-risk individuals every 15 minutes.
Druhar testified that she did not receive any training in relation to high-risk individuals, but she continued to check on McKay every 10 to 15 minutes until she was relieved around midnight for her lunch break.
“I was at home and about 20 minutes later I got a phone call from an officer saying we had a VSA (vital signs absent) in cells,” she said. “I said, ‘please don’t tell me it’s number 12’ and they said yes. I went back to the station and by the time I got there Mr. McKay had already left.”
Druhar said she was concerned the VSA was related to McKay because there was no other person in custody who was exhibiting any other signs of distress.
Following the incident, Druhar continued with her shift because she said she still had a job to do and to care for the other people still in the cell block.
She described it as going into ‘cop mode,’ focusing on the work, but added it is not an easy job and it can weigh on people.
“It’s like a little switch that goes in your head and you just do your job,” she said. “You don’t think about anything else, you have a job to do and you do your job.”
Druhar said it would have been beneficial to have someone come in as relief that night in order to allow her and the other officers involved a chance to step back and decompress.
In the past, Druhar said she has raised concerns regarding the workload placed on jailers, saying there should be two people working on any given shift, one to focus on monitoring people in cells and another to deal with all the paper work.
“It is impossible to have eyes on everybody every second or every minute and do 15 minute checks with one person. It is absolutely impossible,” she said.
Druhar said she never had any direct interactions with inspectors or deputies regarding these concerns and described a disconnect between the officers working downstairs and the ones working upstairs.
“I think it would be good for morale if the higher ups remembered where they came from as well because they used to be officers and if they came and talked more with the officers to create a better report,” she said.
Following McKay’s death, Druhar said she changed her own practices and sent anyone exhibiting the same breathing as McKay to the hospital. She said she recalled five or six incidents of individuals being transported to hospital because of breathing issues similar to McKay.
Other recommendations Druhar raised that could prevent similar incidents from happening in the future is a check list for jailers when handing over duties to a relief officer, highlighting any concerns regarding specific individuals in custody, as well as more detox spaces available in the city.
“The cells are not a place for someone under the influence of something,” she said.
