(Canadian Press) - RCMP say it could take months to determine how a woman died while in custody in a northern Alberta police cell.
“Toxicological results are pending, but as these are very extensive tests. The results are not expected for several months,” police said in a released.
The woman has been identified as Charlene Danais, 28, of Assumption, a community 900 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb said she was found in distress, unconscious, in the cells.
“It’s a very busy detachment,” Webb said. “Whenever there is a prisoner in for whatever reason, there’s guards on duty, so their responsibility is to check the prisoners on a periodic basis just to ensure that they’re safe.”
He wasn’t sure if the cells are monitored by video.
The sergeant couldn’t say if the woman was known to police.
“I don’t have any details on her previous contact with RCMP. That certainly would be part of the investigation, all previous as well as her current reason for incarceration … So many details have to be examined and that’s what the major crimes unit is doing right now -looking back into her history with the RCMP, her activities in the previous hours and days before her arrest.”
The RCMP Major Crimes unit continue is investigating. The Alberta Serious Incidents Response Team is not involved in the case.
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