B.C.’s police watchdog says Surrey RCMP ‘correctly’ released a male from its custody before he was killed in a pedestrian-involved accident on Sept. 14.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) has concluded its investigation into the police-involved incident in Surrey, according to a release Friday (Oct. 4).
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The IIO release states that on Sept. 14, around 10:30 p.m., Surrey RCMP received a report of a pedestrian that had been hit by a vehicle near 152nd Street and Highway 10. Emergency Health Services attended and pronounced the male dead at the scene, IIO said.
The following day, according to IIO, RCMP determined that the male that had been killed had been released from police custody in Surrey shortly before the incident.
According to IIO’s investigation, the male had been arrested earlier in the day on Sept. 14 and “held in cells for approximately five hours before being released.”
After reviewing video evidence “covering his entire period in cells” when he was released around 9:45 p.m., the IIO release states that he was “capable of caring for himself and had been correctly released by the RCMP.”
“Our investigation has determined that the male’s death did not arise from the actions of police,” the release states.
IIO, bound by the Police Act, investigates incidents where there is “serious harm or death as a result of police action.”
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