Cocaine and alcohol led to death of woman in Edmonton emergency room: ASIRT

An ambulance outside of an emergency room in Edmonton in a file photo. (CTV News Edmonton)

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) says no offence was committed when a 22-year-old woman died in an Edmonton hospital emergency room after being transported there by members of the Edmonton Police Service.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

According to the report released by ASIRT on Wednesday, the woman had been drinking and using cocaine on Oct. 15, 2022, when she started behaving strangely while out with family members at the Gateway Entertainment Centre.

“She was stumbling around and mumbling to herself. She then laid down on the floor on her back, and pushed herself around with her feet, moving under a [pool] table and then into other people’s [bowling] lanes,” the report stated.

“[The woman’s] sister sat on her to stop her from moving around and asked the manager to call for ambulance and police to attend.”

An EMS supervisor attended the scene along with four EPS officers.

The EMS attendants determined that it was not a medical emergency, but the decision was made to transport her to the hospital because it was not known how long it would take to get an ambulance to the scene, the report says.

The woman was initially in the back of a vehicle belonging to family members to be transported to hospital, but according to the report, she became “unruly” and escaped.

A brief struggle ensued and police handcuffed the woman and transported her to the University of Alberta Hospital emergency department in a police cruiser.

Upon arriving at the hospital the woman went into medical distress, and despite life-saving efforts from police and emergency room staff, she died.

An autopsy conducted on the woman found her death to be a result of alcohol and cocaine toxicity, the report says.

“ASIRT was directed to investigate the death of [the woman] given that she was in the ‘custody’ of police officers when she went into medical distress,” the report says.

“It should be noted that had [the woman’s] family completed the transport of [the woman] to the hospital, and her death still ensued, there would have been no notification to the [director of law enforcement] and no ASIRT investigation.

“It was only because the EPS officers decided to assist the family in getting [the woman] to the hospital that they became involved.”