Alberta’s Serious Incident Response Team is investigating an overnight death of a man, after his arrest by Calgary Police Officers at the Carriage House Hotel and Conference Centre.
Calgary Police were called to the hotel at 12:55 a.m. on Sept. 17, after reports of a man causing disturbances and refusing to leave the property.
The service said that they located the man in the lobby of the hotel acting erratically, and attempted to de-escalate the situation before arresting him.
“A struggle ensued, resulting in one officer deploying a Taser. The man continued to be combative with officers, resulting in one officer deploying [oleoresin capsicum] spray. The man was taken into custody and, shortly after, went into medical distress,” said CPS.
The man died at the scene, despite the intervention of EMS.
No Calgary Police officers or other members of the public were injured during the incident.
Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld, speaking at a provincial announcement, said that CPS wouldn’t be able to comment in detail about the incident as it was under investigation by ASIRT.
“I wouldn’t want to say anything that would that would hamper their efforts in that regard… but I think the situation just highlights how something that comes in a call, that comes in to police or dispatch can appear to be innocuous, and then once police get on scene it can be anything, but very quickly.”
He said that his thoughts were for the officers that were involved, and for the family of the deceased man.
