The police watchdog has concluded RCMP officers were not at fault after a man died on the Sunshine Coast while under arrest.
Mounties had said they were responding to a report of a man trying to make a fraudulent transaction at a bank in the 5500-block of Sunshine Coast Highway in Sechelt last Tuesday afternoon.
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The man was detained, and while officers were escorting him to a car, he allegedly fled into a blackberry bush area.
The RCMP tracked him down and arrested him and tried to get him out of the brush. He complained about breathing problems and collapsed, unresponsive.
Officers tried to revive him, as did a local doctor, nurse and paramedics, but he was pronounced dead in hospital.
The Independent Investigations Office has determined the man went into medical distress after exerting himself when running away, and died of natural causes.
joti.grewal@bpdigital.ca
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