In-custody death ruled an accident by B.C. jury

(CTV) – A coroner’s jury has ruled that the death of a Maple Ridge man in a B.C. RCMP holding cell two years ago was an accident, but it also urged police and paramedics to do more to protect people with head injuries.

The jury in the inquest into the death of Ian Alexander Young on Oct. 19, 2008, released its decision Friday night.

Young, 55, was taken into custody when he was found lying on the side of the road after spending an evening drinking at a bar. His friends and a bartender say that he had only two pints of beer at the By Baileys Pub.

He fell onto a curb only blocks from his house and hit his head. Medics treating Young smelled alcohol, assumed he was drunk and handed him off to the RCMP without taking him to the hospital.

He was placed in a jail cell, and no one discovered his head injury until he was found dead a few hours later.

An autopsy revealed that he died from a massive brain injury caused by blunt-force trauma — an injury that was exacerbated by chronic alcoholism.

Karen Young is still reeling from what happened to her husband.

“I honestly believe that a dog would have been better treated than my husband was treated that night,” she told CTV News.

“They left him there for eight hours, unchecked, until he was brain dead.”

A series of recommendations

In the wake of his death, the coroner’s jury recommended that RCMP consider implementing new procedures for dealing with intoxicated prisoners, including:

Checking prisoners’ condition every hour
Keeping more complete cell guard logbooks
Ensuring that all watch commanders have first aid training
Reviewing the conditions in drunk tanks
The jury suggested that the B.C. Ambulance service should consider:

Providing special instructions to police when transferring patients who may be intoxicated or have head injuries
Taking any drunk patient with a history of head trauma directly to hospital
Equipping all ambulances with mobile work station terminals
Review training and qualifications
When a person is too drunk to make a rational decision about whether they require medical attention, the jury has suggested that police and ambulance services consider transporting them directly to hospital.

The jury also suggested that the health authority consider creating “sobering centres” where intoxicated people can be held as an alternative to the hospital or jail, and that the Liquor Control Branch look into reviewing its “Serving it Right” program.

A familiar situation

The jury’s recommendations are similar to those in an inquest that ended two years ago.

James Bertholet had consumed a whole bottle of vodka when he was arrested. Officers didn’t check on him and he died of alcohol poisoning.

The RCMP does have policies for handling unresponsive inmates.

“A policy can be perfect in writing, but unless it’s followed and understood and enforced, that policy becomes useless,” Young family lawyer Diego Solimano said.

The RCMP say they will review the jury’s recommendations, but Young says she plans to take the RCMP and B.C. Ambulance Service to court.