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If the subject of an abandoned wellness check had not died one day prior, a Kelowna RCMP officer could have faced criminal charges.
That was the conclusion of an Independent Investigation Office (IIO) of BC probe into the actions of the officer when tasked with checking in on a gravely ill man on Jan. 10, 2024.
The report from Ronald MacDonald, chief civilian director of the IIO, said the wellness check request came from a person outside of British Columbia who had talked to the subject a day earlier.
She was worried about the man’s “apparent very poor health,” and when he didn’t answer on Jan. 10, she called the Kelowna RCMP to request the wellness check.
The officer arrived at 10:40 am and reportedly examined the building directory, which does not list tenant names, and left around two minutes later after being unable to find the subject’s buzzer number.
According to the report, the officer then called the man’s acquaintance back and told her to “find someone else” to check on him.
Not long later, the building manager found the subject dead in his apartment and an autopsy later found he died from natural causes the previous day.
Just over an hour after leaving the building, the same officer was directed to go back and assist paramedics with the man’s sudden death.
The conclusion of MacDonald’s report was stern, noting that the officer failed to comply with his sworn duty to protect life and likely crossed the threshold of criminal negligence.
“After the RCMP got a call to check on a very sick person, (the office) almost immediately abandoned his investigation after being stopped by the building’s front door,” he wrote.
“There were other options he could have pursued but he failed to take any, other than to call the complainant back to tell her to get someone else to do the job he had been tasked to do.”
MacDonald listed additional actions the officer could have taken in this situation, including forced entry, and hammered home the point that giving up after two minutes was a failure.
“His actions showed a poor regard for the potential that (the subject) was in a grave physical state,” MacDonald continued.
“However, the objective evidence here indicates that the failure of (the officer) to gain entry and conduct a check on the deceased did not make any difference to the unfortunate outcome.”
As a result, despite his disappointment in the officer’s actions, MacDonald said it can’t be said that the evidence establishes the officer committed the offence of criminal negligence causing death.
While there won’t be criminal charges, MacDonald noted that the officer could still face discipline from the RCMP for a breach of the agency’s policy and practice.
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