Heart failure, not excessive police force, blamed for 20-year-old's in-custody death

A 20-year-old man who died in police custody last year suffered heart failureand no officers will be charged, Manitoba's Independent Investigation Unit has decided.

The IIU's decision comes just days afterManitoba's acting chief medical examinerannounced an inquest will be held to look into the death of Taumas LeBlanc.

On Feb. 12, 2017, Winnipeg police officers responded to a Garden City home after a father had called, asking for his intoxicated son,LeBlanc, to be removed.

According the IIU, police found LeBlanc"in a state of excited delirium and acting strangely."

Police officers pepper-sprayed the man, and he was given a sedative byfire-paramedic personnel, thereport states.

Paramedics got LeBlanc outside and found he was in cardiac arrest. They began CPR and LeBlancwas taken to Seven Oaks Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

• Man dies after struggle with Winnipeg police
• 'I see him when I close my eyes' says father of 20-year-old who died in police custody

An autopsy found thecause of death wasplaque buildup in his arteries, with three of his heart arteries almost completely blocked and evidence of heart disease. It said chronic alcoholism, an enlarged heart and the physiological stress of a struggle with police all contributed to LeBlanc's death.

I had no choice but to call.- Grieving father Ken LeBlanc in 2017 interview with CBC

In his report on the investigation, IIU civilian director Zane Tesslersaid that LeBlanc'saggressive and bizarre behaviour, and the level of alcohol in his system (259 milligrams per 100 ml of blood, compared to the legal driving limit of 80 milligrams per 100 ml of blood), "supports the conclusion that he was in excited delirium at the time he was combative with [Winnipeg Police Service] officers."

He found no evidence that officers used excessive or unnecessary force.

'He left me no choice'

Ken LeBlanc says his son who he described assmart, academic and good with computers had been struggling with alcohol since LeBlanc's wife, Taumas's adoptive mother, died from cancer in 2013.

Ken LeBlanc said they had been playing cribbage that evening, but later he was woken up by Taumas,who he said was intoxicated and howling like a wolf. He said he warned his son that if he didn't stop he would call the police.

"I had no choice but to call. He left me no choice whatsoever," the grieving father told CBCNews in 2017.

"Ijust stood up here and listened. I wasn't happy but I couldn't interfere. It wasn't my place, because I called them to restrain him, that's all. I didn't tell them to come here and kill him. And I hope that's not the case.I'm sure it's not, I'm just I hurt.I'm frustrated."

Last year, he had told CBC News he hoped the IIUinvestigation would provide answers about his son's death.

The acting chief medical examiner for Manitoba said last weekthat an inquest had been called to dive deeper into the cause of LeBlanc's death.

Inquests are mandated through the provincial Fatality Inquiries Act when "the chief medical examiner has reasonable grounds to believe that the deceased person died as a result of the use of force by a peace officer who was acting in the course of duty."

Inquiries are also called when "at the time of death, the deceased person was in the custody of a peace officer."

The date, time and location of the inquest will be determined by the chief judge of Manitoba's provincial court and the findings made public when it concludes.