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Saskatchewan’s Serious Incident Response Team has been notified after a man died in hospital hours after police were asked to perform a wellness check on him.
According to the RCMP, that check was not completed.
In a release Friday afternoon, SIRT said officers from the Maidstone RCMP detachment got a call at around 7:15 a.m. from a person asking that a wellness check be done on a relative after they were informed the relative — a 68-year-old man — was dead.
“This call was dispatched to an on-call member of the detachment,” the SIRT release said. “At approximately 4:30 p.m., the man’s relative contacted RCMP again to request an update on the wellness check, and at 4:39 p.m., the originally dispatched member departed the Maidstone detachment.”
SIRT said that just after 5 p.m., the Mounties got a call from another relative of the man. That caller had gone to the residence and reported to police that the man was seriously injured but alive.
The RCMP then went to the home in the RM of Britannia, northeast of Lloydminster, and found the man with what police described as “serious injuries.” He was taken to hospital, where he later died.
“Investigation determined Maidstone RCMP received a request to conduct a wellness check on the deceased male at approximately 7:14 a.m. on April 3,” the RCMP said in a statement. “A physical check on the male was not completed.”
The man’s family has been notified of his death, police said, but his name was not released.
The RCMP said the Serious Incident Response Team was notified about the case, as required by law. That team will look into the RCMP’s response to the requested wellness check.
That team investigates cases where a death or serious injury was caused by police or may have happened in police custody, along with any incidents in which police officers or special constables — on or off duty — are alleged to have committed domestic violence or sexual assault.
“The Saskatchewan RCMP is disclosing this as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency,” the RCMP noted.
SIRT’s executive director and five investigators have gone to Maidstone to begin their investigation. A final report on the Mounties’ handling of the case will be issued to the public within 90 days of the investigation ending.