Quebec’s police watchdog is investigating the actions of Gatineau police officers after a man died during a call for service on Monday. The Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) says a person making suicidal statements reportedly communicated several times with a hospital at approximately 2:35 p.m. Officers arrived at the person’s home at around 2:50 p.m. and made contact with the individual, the BEI says. A preliminary investigation finds officers reportedly lost contact with the person, before returning to the residence and finding them unconscious inside. The person was taken to hospital where they were declared dead. Gatineau police said it could not provide additional information about the incident, as the BEI has taken over the investigation. Five investigators from the BEI have been tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. Similar to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the BEI investigates all cases where a person, other than a police officer on duty, dies, suffers serious injury, or is injured by a firearm used by a police officer during a police intervention or while in police custody.
