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Police watchdog investigating after 48-year-old man dies in Saint John, N.B. cell

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Police in Saint John, N.B., say a man has died in their custody. The Saint John Police Force says in a news release officers detained a 48-year-old man on Thursday for allegedly being intoxicated in public.
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Police say a man who was in a Saint John, N.B., detention facility has died. New Brunswick's provincial flag flies in Ottawa on Friday July 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Police in Saint John, N.B., say a man has died in their custody.

The Saint John Police Force says in a news release officers detained a 48-year-old man on Thursday for allegedly being intoxicated in public.

Police say they brought the man to a detention facility, where they say he was later found "unresponsive in his cell."

Officers say they and paramedics tried and failed to revive the man, but they do not say how long he was in the cell before he died.

New Brunswick announced in February that it reached a deal with Nova Scotia’s police watchdog — Serious Incident Response Team — to investigate deaths in police custody. 

Saint John police say they are fully co-operating with SiRT in the independent investigation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2023.

The Canadian Press

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