Advocacy group calls for inquiry into death of N.S. man who struggled with police

An advocacy group is calling for a fatality inquiry into the case of a young man who died after a struggle with Halifax police officers earlier this year.

The East Coast Prison Justice Society is pointing to a report from Nova Scotia’s police oversight agency that says police were told the 25-year-old man was having a psychotic episode when two officers arrived at his condominium on Feb. 22.

The report from the Serious Incident Response Team says officers reported that the man was throwing objects and could not be reasoned with, which is why they decided to arrest him.

During a struggle with police, an officer used a stun gun to subdue the man, and handcuffs were placed on his wrists and ankles.

The report says that as police waited for paramedics to arrive, the man started vomiting, suffered a cardiac arrest and died at the scene.

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It was the fourth time in three days that police had been dispatched to the man’s home, and the report says that on each visit, officers were told by the man’s mother that he was experiencing a mental health crisis.

The advocacy group says the province’s policing and health-care systems repeatedly failed the man and his family.