SIU investigating death following interaction with Kingston Police
Kingston Police at Harvey’s on Princess St following an incident now being investigated by the SIU.The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is investigating the circumstances surrounding the in-hospital death of a 52-year-old man in Kingston on Tuesday afternoon following his interaction with Kingston Police at a downtown fast food restaurant.
The SIU says that at approximately 1:30 p.m. on July 23, 2019, Kingston Police officers were dispatched to the Harvey’s restaurant located on Princess Street in relation to how a man in the restaurant was behaving. Records indicate Kingston Police had been dispatched to assist paramedics also responding to the scene.
When officers arrived on scene, they located the man in the bathroom area and took him into custody. According to SIU, he was then transported to hospital where he lost all vital signs and was subsequently pronounced dead.
The SIU says they have assigned three investigators and one forensic investigator to this incident. Two subject police officers and four witness officers have been designated as part of the investigation. The post-mortem is scheduled to take place Thursday morning in Kingston.
The SIU is urging anyone who may have information about this investigation to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. The Unit is also urging anyone who may have any video evidence related to this incident to upload that video through the SIU website.
The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. Under the Police Services Act, the Director of the SIU must consider whether an officer has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation. Depending on the evidence, it may lay a criminal charge against the officer, if appropriate, or close the file without any charges being laid, and report the results of any investigations to the Attorney General.