SIU investigating second death where Peel police administered naloxone

Peel police union feels like bad guy in SIU case The Peel police union is frustrated their officers are under an SIU investigation for administering Naloxone to a man at the scene.

For the second time in less than a month, Ontario’s police watchdog has launched an investigation into a death that involved the administration of naloxone by Peel Regional Police officers.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) announced Friday it has assigned four investigators to look into the death of a 45-year-old man in Mississauga.

According to the SIU, Peel police officers responded to a medical call at around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday at a building near Derry Road East and Rexwood Drive.

The officers performed CPR on the man and, at some point, administered the opioid overdose-reversal drug naloxone.

The SIU says paramedics attended the scene but the man died shortly after midnight.

The SIU is regularly called in to investigate whenever police are involved in a death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

Back in January, Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police President Bryan Larkin wrote a letter which said police forces should not have to inform the agency of deaths or serious injuries if the officers’ only interaction with the victim was to administer naloxone.

Larkin suggested that by doing so, officers may start to feel apprehensive or discouraged from administering the drug in critical situations.

SIU Director Tony Loparco dismissed Larkin’s concern in a subsequent letter of his own, saying he “fully expects” all of Ontario’s police chiefs to “abide by their legal obligations and immediately notify this office of these types of incidents.”

Friday’s death comes about a month after the death of a 36-year-old Brampton man under similar circumstances.

Though Peel officers performed CPR and administered naloxone to the man, he died at the scene.

The Brampton case became the first investigation launched by the SIU into a death involving naloxone.

Peel Regional Police Association President Adrian Woolley reacted to the investigation on Friday in a tweet, calling the news “déjà vu.” He also tagged Premier Kathleen Wynne and Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and used emojis to say “you two love throwing money away.”

In December 2017, the Ministry of Health announced that naloxone kits would be available to all police forces in Ontario following a rise in opioid-related deaths around the country.

With files from the Canadian Press