The head of B.C.鈥檚 police watchdog office says a 琉璃神社 RCMP officer 鈥渓ikely crossed the criminal negligence threshold鈥� in not properly conducting a wellness check in January 2024.
A report by Independent Investigations Office (IIO) Director Ron MacDonald states the officer failed to 鈥減roperly comply with his sworn duty to protect life鈥� regarding a wellness check on Jan. 10.
The officer was sent to an apartment building after an out-of-province call asking to check on an individual who was extremely sick.
Unable to find the person鈥檚 buzzer number in the building directory, the officer left less than two and a half minutes later and told the caller to find someone else to check on their friend.
The report states the individual had no family or contacts in 琉璃神社. The building manager found a man dead in his apartment later that morning.
The same officer was sent back to the apartment to assist paramedics with a sudden death. A BC Coroners report states the death was from natural causes and occurred sometime on Jan. 9.
MacDonald鈥檚 report states the officer almost immediately abandoned his investigation after being stopped by the building鈥檚 front door.
鈥淭here were other options he could have pursued but failed to take any, other than to call the complainant back to tell her to get someone else to the job he had been tasked to do,鈥� the report reads.
MacDonald also writes that the officer could have tried to contact other residents, the manager, or the property owner.
鈥淚ndeed a forced entry in these circumstances would quite likely have been appropriate.鈥�
MacDonald notes the evidence indicates that the officer鈥檚 to gain entry to the building 鈥渄id not make any difference to the unfortunate outcome.鈥�
He concludes that the officer鈥檚 inactions 鈥渕ay well constitute a breach of RCMP policy and practice, a matter for their professional standards branch to address.鈥�
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