A Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing is underway into the death of a 41-year-old man who died in a Halifax police cell.
A medical examiner determined Corey Rogers died of suffocation on June 15, 2016, in the downtown detention centre with a spit hood covering his mouth as he appeared to be vomiting. Spit hoods are used to stop someone from spitting or biting.
Lawyers Jason Cooke and Ashley Hamp-Gonsalves are representing Jeannette Rogers, Corey’s mother, during the hearing today against the three Halifax police officers who brought her son to the lockup.
Rogers is appealing some of the disciplinary actions taken by Halifax police against constables Ryan Morris, Donna Lee Paris and Justin Murphy, saying they weren’t severe enough.
The officers had placed the hood on Rogers after his arrest at a Halifax children’s hospital, where he had been extremely intoxicated following the birth of his child.
In January, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for two special constables at the Halifax lockup who were convicted in November 2019 of criminal negligence in the suffocation death.
—The Canadian Press
RELATED: Inquest set into 2016 death of B.C. teen after a day spent in police custody
