Cain Wapass died in an Ahtahkakoop jail cell in 2020 brought on by alcohol withdrawal. (File photo)

By Susan McNeil

Death in custody

Day one of inquest focuses on alcohol withdrawal as cause of death

Apr 17, 2023 | 5:51 PM

Almost none of the five witnesses called on the first day of an inquest into the death of Cain Wapass in an RCMP holding cell knew that sudden withdrawal of alcohol after heavy use can be fatal.

The witnesses were called throughout the day with the jury hearing first from Staff/Sgt. Cam Lewis of the Moose Jaw Police Service who was asked by the RCMP to investigate as an independent party.

One of the first things Lewis learned when arriving at the Ahtahkakoop detachment on July 26, 2020, was that the deceased prisoner had been seen earlier on the day he was arrested by two members of the Spiritwood EMS.

“He was hallucinating. He was talking to people that weren’t in the residence,” said Lewis.

Wapass’ uncle, Robert Durocher had called 911 asking for medical help at about 3:00 pm because of his nephew’s behaviour.

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The responding paramedics from Spiritwood took his vital signs and noticed his heart rate was high and he had swelling in his feet.

Despite repeated requests to take him to a doctor for more assessment, Wapass refused and said he had an appointment in several days.

At about midnight on the same day, Durocher again called 911, but this time asked for the police.

Two officers responded but were told when they got there that Wapass had quieted and gone to sleep.

At 3:00 am, a third 911 call revealed that Wapass was awake and his behaviour had escalated, according to his uncle.

“He began to cause damage. He broke a door and made a fist and lunged at Durocher,” said Lewis.

Before they arrested him, the officers (the same pair as the first call) noticed that Wapass was in his room talking aloud to someone who was not there.

However, when they placed him under arrest, he was cooperative and went quietly enough that his hands were cuffed in front of him.

The in-car video camera was not functional during the drive but the inquest heard that a request to repair had been placed about a month prior to the arrest and it can take weeks for broken cameras to be repaired because of a shortage of technicians.

When Wapass arrived at the detachment, it was about 4:40 am and video footage showed him walking slowly but without stumbling and him being placed into a cell with the idea that he would be released in the morning when sober.

The cells have surveillance cameras which can be monitored and the cells have windows but in Wapass’ case, the glass was cloudy and somewhat scratched, which reduced visibility somewhat.

The guard on duty that morning was Lorie Collingwood, a retired Parks Canada warden who had been a guard in Waskesiu before moving to Shellbrook and also taking on work at Ahtahkakoop as needed.

Collingwood said that for the first hour that Wapass was in the cell, he paced around a lot. He complained once he was in pain and needed to use the bathroom.

“He was talking to someone that wasn’t there,” said Collingwood. Because he had been told Wapass was in jail because of alcohol consumption, he checked the related prisoner document and found the same information there.

“He was acting in a manner consistent with alcohol intoxication,” he said.

At about 6:30 am Collingwood noticed that Wapass had sat on the bench that doubles as a sleeping platform and had also leaned back against the wall.

He assumed that Wapass had passed out but continued to check him about every 10 minutes.

When he had done two checks and Wapass had not moved and would not respond to yelling or banging on the door, Collingwood called for help.

Only officers are allowed to enter cells so no one went in until the on-duty Corporal arrived, a delay that took less than 10 minutes.

When he went in to check, he found no pulse so EMS was called.

With the same two responders that had checked Wapass just hours earlier responding, both said he was obviously dead when they arrived and so no more medical aid was given.

Robin Ritter, the lawyer given the job of asking the bulk of the questions and guiding the inquest, spent some time with each witness asking about their training in recognizing the signs of deliriums tremens.

What he heard was that of the two paramedics, a prison guard and Lewis, a 24-year-veteran officer. Only one person was vaguely aware that DTs can cause seizures or organ failure and be fatal.

One paramedic said that Wapass absolutely refused to go to the hospital even after she asked him three times.

She and her co-worker had checked his temperature, pulse, heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels.

“They were OK. I remember his heart rate being a little high and we told him that. He didn’t want to go to the hospital no matter what,” she said.

One paramedic did not have knowledge of the signs of DTs had encountered it once in a decade of work as a paramedic.

One of the jurors, who is a nurse, asked if they were aware of the CIWA assessment which checks for signs of DTs and includes symptoms that Wapass had at one point or another, but not with the same witness present.

The inquest resumes Tuesday and is expected to end on Wednesday.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com