Mountie won’t be charged after Smithers, B.C., man dies in custody

The B.C. Prosecution Service says the man was arrested on Feb. 14, 2015, after a young female called police to report her father was drunk, suicidal and holding a knife.

The service says when an officer arrived at the home, the suspect refused to take his hand out of his pocket and told the officer to shoot him, but the Mountie used pepper spray to arrest him instead.

At the detachment, the service says the man grew increasingly aggressive and a one point reached for an officer’s firearm, then lunged at a supervisor, all of which was caught on video.

When officers tried to restrain him around the head, he went limp and stopped breathing, and was rushed to hospital where he died a few days later.

The prosecution service says the evidence available to them doesn’t meet the charge assessment standard.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2017