RCMP Watch

Jonathan Woodward, Vancouver Sun

A man who was screaming and smashing windows on the main street of Fort St. John was killed by police as they tried to restrain him early Monday morning.

The Fort St. John RCMP did not release the identity or the age of the man in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.

The RCMP were called to the main street of Fort St. John at about 12:50 a.m., where they found a man banging on the windows of several businesses, the statement says.

“The male appeared agitated and was observed carrying several large rocks,” the statement says. The man put the rocks down, but fled before police could arrest him.

Police gave chase, and handcuffed the man during a struggle.

“The suspect was very combative and attempted to kick and bite the polie officers several times,” the statement says.

But before they could finish restraining him, the man fell unconscious. An ambulance was called, and paramedics found the man had gone into cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at Fort St. John Hospital.

The North District Major Crime Unit and the B.C. Coroners Service will investigate, and the Fort St. John RCMP detatchment will conduct its own internal review, the statement says.

In Prince George this summer, a coroners inquest examined the death of Ian Bush, who was shot in police custody by Cst. Paul Koester in 2005. Koester was not charged.