No charges laid in alleged choking involving Brandon police

Manitoba's police watchdog has concluded its investigation into a January2021 incident involving Brandon Police Service, after a man alleged hewas choked by an officer while in custody.

The Independent Investigation Unit concludedthere is no evidence that any Brandon police officer used excessive and unnecessary force during the arrest and subsequent interactions with the man.

The man was taken into custody under the Mental Health Act onJan. 16, 2021, in Brandon, Man., the IIU said in its report.

After his arrest, he was taken to the Brandon Regional Health Centre, where due to combative behaviour corroborated by witnesseshe was put in a wheelchair with his arms and legs restrainedand a spit hood over his head.

The man alleged that while he was at the health centre awaiting medical care, an officer choked him until he was unconscious. He notified the Brandon police chief of these concerns in a letter dated May 5, 2021.

"In my agitated state I kicked out, breaking the strap binding my feet to the wheelchair," he wrote in the letter.

In response to him breaking the restraint, one of the officers "put me in a choke/stranglehold until I was unconscious," he wrote.

Man threatened self-harm

Prior to being taken into custody, the man was at home and in distress, destroying personal property and threatening serious self-harm.

Someone who was in the house with him tried to calm him down, and when that was unsuccessful, she decided to call 911.

The caller later told police in a written statement that she believed he would have harmed himself if police did not get involved, and that he was mad that police were called, the IIU report says.

The IIU investigators interviewed six witness officers and seven civilian witnesses, which included medical and security staff at the health centre.

Written consent was given to IIU investigators to review the man's medical records. The records corroborate that the man was in mental distress, and documented that he was threatening violence to others, damaging property, and had self-inflicted bruises on his face.

The man said he suffers from neck pain as a result of the alleged choking. A CT scan showed degeneration of several disks but the neck was otherwise normal.

Investigators also consulted the chief medical examiner, who said the CT scan reports do not suggest any skeletal injury took placeduring the man's police interaction.

The medical examiner also saidchoke holds even when they result in loss of consciousness typically leave little to no external evidence of injury, and witness accounts would be the most compelling evidence.

None of the interviewed witnesses recall anyone having to use excessive force to restrain the man.

One nurse saidofficers did, at one point, have to help the man back into the wheelchair, but there was no altercation. The nurse reviewed the man's medical records and confirmed that at no point did he lose consciousness in the emergency room.

After triage and the admission process, the man was admitted to the Centre for Adult Psychiatry for an involuntary psychiatric assessment.He was discharged from hospital on Jan. 21, 2021.