THUNDER BAY – The lawyer representing the family of Emmanuel Oruitemeka says the inquest jury’s finding that the 25-year-old's manner of death is undetermined sends a loud and clear message to the Thunder Bay Police Service that will require deep introspection and reflection, and hopefully lead to changes that prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
The jury in the coroner’s inquest examining the circumstances surrounding Oruitemeka’s death in February 2014 returned with a verdict and recommendations at 1:30 p.m. on Friday after starting deliberations late Thursday afternoon.
In addition to ruling Oruitemeka’s manner of death was undetermined, the jury also handed down more than a dozen recommendations directed at the Thunder Bay Police Service focusing on training for first-aid, internal policies and responsibilities, and anti-racism.
“I think frankly it is extraordinary because the message is loud and clear from the jury,” said Rick Frank, counsel for the Oruitemeka family. “It is unusual where the cause of death is drug toxicity for there to be a finding other than accident. What the jury’s verdict shows is that they felt the police conduct may well have played a part in the death of Emmanuel and they wanted to send that message.”
The verdict follows eight days of evidence and testimony, which revealed that Oruitemeka became unresponsive while inside the Thunder Bay Police Service Balmoral Street headquarters after being taken into custody in relation to a potential weapons call in the Trillium Way area on Feb. 12, 2014.
Oruitemeka died four days later in hospital as a result of a lack of oxygen and blood reaching his brain due to a cardiac collapse likely caused by the ingestion of cocaine.
Surveillance footage from inside the police headquarters showed Oruitemeka unresponsive after being taken out of the police cruiser and being placed face down in the booking area. A period of five minutes passed before it was determined by officers that Oruitemeka was in medical distress and an ambulance was called.
When paramedics arrived, Oruitemeka had no vital signs, which came as a shock to the police officers who testified that they observed him to be breathing and his eyes fluttering. No first-aid was administered by the officers, who said they are trained not to perform CPR on a person who is breathing.
The Special Investigations Unit found no grounds to criminally charge the involved officers and an internal report found the officers did not engage in misconduct or negligence.
Frank called on the jury to find the manner of death as homicide, arguing the police officer’s inaction to recognize Oruitemeka’s medical distress in a timely manner or administer first-aid resulted in his foreseeable death.
Other counsel for the parties with standing, including the police officers, the Thunder Bay Police Service, and Police Services Board argued the manner of death should be determined as accidental.
“Five members of the Thunder Bay community, who represent the conscience of the Thunder Bay community, found the police conduct to be not acceptable,” Frank said.
“I think that is important for the Thunder Bay Police Service to take stock of, to be introspective about, to review what we’ve heard at this inquest, and to ensure lessons are learned and that things like this don’t happen again.”
The jury also handed down a total of 14 recommendations, many of which were part of a slate of joint recommendations agreed upon by the inquest counsel members. Of the 14 recommendations, 13 were directed at the Thunder Bay Police Service.
Most of the recommendations relate to training, including scheduling joint training between police, EMS, and fire so all agencies are more familiar with their respective roles and responsibilities, better training relating to internal policies, training on how to recognize signs of medical distress, and obtaining relevant medical information for individuals in custody and ensure that information is relayed to all officers handling that individual.
It is also recommended that the police service develop a plan to incorporate anti-black racism training that should be devised with community input from individuals and organizations with lived experience.
The training should also include how to manage implicit bias and address the internal reluctance within the Thunder Bay Police Service in recognizing the existence of systemic racism.
“It’s something that is ubiquitous within policing, this reluctance to being challenged about race. This kind of reluctance needs to be addressed,” Frank said.
“There needs to be introspection and openness to have these conversations, to recognize systemic racism, to recognize the Thunder Bay Police Service has these issues, that there has been report after report that have criticized the Thunder Bay Police service and these reports are legitimate.”
Other recommendations include providing training and updates for all police members on internal policies, hold regular mental health debriefs with police members involved in an incident in which the Special Investigations Unit invokes its mandate, and revising the prisoner care and control policy to include mandatory health checks and safety assessments.
Changes to the role of the jailor and watch commander are also recommended, including the jailor being required to assess the safety of an individual placed in a cell and the watch commander and jailor being required to have a first responder first-aid training, the level above standard first-aid training.
Holly Walbourne, counsel for the Thunder Bay Police Service and previously the in-house lawyer before resigning earlier this spring, said in a statement that the police service thanks the jury for their time and attention in the inquest and the finding of its recommendations.
“The Service will begin reviewing the recommendations immediately to make improvements to its current practices,” the statement goes on to read.
A single recommendation was given to the government of Ontario, calling on it to provide more funding to implement an e-learning program for police officer training.
Frank added that this has been a long and exhausting experience for the family, but they are grateful for what has been revealed and learned throughout the course of the inquest.
“This has been emotionally draining,” Frank said. “There was quite a bit learned through the inquest. We heard from police officers things we didn’t know before. So the family is tired, but they are grateful for the process of the inquest.”
