, Enfield, N.S. (Enfield Weekly) – A 28-year-old man was found dead in his cell at the Enfield RCMP Detachment. The cause of his death is still unknown.
Police have identified him as Ryan Allen McKay of Waverly who was known to police and had a criminal record.
RCMP spokesperson, Sgt. Mark Gallagher says his arrest was as routine as it gets.
“On Saturday night around 9 p.m., they received a call. It was a 28-year-old, there was a court order for him not to attend the residence, the person who was there called to report that he was present,” he said. “We went. There wasn’t any incident, any struggle or anything. He understood why we were there and he came along peacefully.
“He was brought to the detachment, had the opportunity to speak to legal counsel, he knew he was going to be held for court, and there was nothing unusual members would have to think that he would need any medical attention.”
Sgt. Gallagher says MacKay was responsive and alert when he was taken back to the detachment.
“He went into the cell, he slept and he was breathing almost the entire time and at one point, the guard, who checks on them a lot, probably every 10-15 minutes they check on them,” he said. “They keep a log as to how many times they check on them.”
He appeared to be sleeping each time he was checked on and it wasn’t until the early morning hours on Sunday that the guards noticed something wrong.
“At 3:30 a.m. they noticed there wasn’t any breathing or movement and they got a hold of EHS, called them in and gave him medical attention,” he said.
RCMP have handed the case over to another policing agency now to investigate exactly what happened. Sgt. Gallagher says that is standard procedure.
“The lead investigator will be Halifax Regional Police Major Crime Unit,” he said. “We reciprocate with Halifax Regional Police and other police forces within Nova Scotia if there was something like this that occurs, we have a memorandum of understanding that another police agency would be the lead investigator on the file to obviously show impartiality and then there shouldn’t be any need for question when it comes to the investigation, because the person was in our custody.”
MacKay’s cause of death is not yet known, however an autopsy was scheduled for earlier in the week to determine exactly what happened.
“We’ll have to wait for the results of the autopsy to see what occurred. Hopefully we will be able to give answers,” said Sgt. Gallagher.
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