Police cleared in falling death of man during attempted arrest in 2020: ASIRT

Several spindles were missing from the balcony where a man fell and died during an arrest attempt in West Edmonton in May 2020. (Photo: Alberta Serious Incident Response Team)

Alberta's police watchdog has cleared four Edmonton police officers in the death of a man who fell from a fourth-floor balcony in 2020.

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The man died in hospital two days after police tried to arrest him at a west Edmonton apartment in the early morning of May 14.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team said on Friday that it remained unclear if the man had jumped or had fallen from the balcony, but that all actions taken by responding officers were lawful, reasonable and justified.

What happened

According to the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), the officers were called to the apartment building after the man had broken in and gained access to his ex-girlfriend's unit, where she lived with her two-year-old daughter.

There he reportedly attacked the ex-girlfriend and another woman who was with her, threatening them with a gun and knives, and telling them he would kill them.

ASIRT said the man blocked the door and refused to let responding police inside. Multiple officers struggled for some time to gain entry, using Tasers and pepper spray multiple times.

During the struggle, ASIRT said officers could see the man behind the door holding a knife, and witnesses said the man had stabbed himself in the chest multiple times before police arrived.

When officers were able to enter the apartment, ASIRT said the man moved toward the living room where the two women were, near the open balcony door.

One officer fired a non-lethal ARWEN baton launcher round, which hit the man in the lower back.

At that point, the man went through the balcony door and disappeared from view. When officers followed, the man and several of the balcony spindles were on the ground below.

He was taken to hospital, where he died two days later.

'Not foreseeable'

An autopsy found the man had died of blunt force trauma from the fall, but could not confirm if he jumped or fell.

Photos from the scene show a considerable amount of garbage and a stroller on the balcony, and ASIRT said the man, who was impaired by alcohol, may have tripped or fallen due to the impact of the ARWEN round.

"Given the missing spindles and the bloody hand smear on the railing, it is most likely that when (the man) exited out onto the balcony, he fell and went through the spindles falling to the ground below," ASIRT wrote in the report.

Despite the possibility that the ARWEN round may have led to the man's death, ASIRT found the firing officer's actions to be reasonable, necessary and proportionate.

"That an ARWEN round would hit the (man), and the (man) would then possibly trip on items on the patio, and then also fall through the spindles is not foreseeable whatsoever," ASIRT said.