By Canadian Press

BC Coroners Service says no record of fatal overdose where Rustad says he saw man die

Oct 9, 2024 | 4:25 PM

VANCOUVER — The BC Coroners Service says it has no record of any recent drug toxicity death at a Vancouver intersection where B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad said he saw a man die on his way to a televised election debate.

Rustad told Tuesday’s party leaders’ debate that he saw someone die “from an overdose” on the corner of Robson and Hornby streets in Vancouver, later telling a news conference he watched first responders “pumping his chest” as an ambulance arrived.

The BC Coroners Service says it would be notified of a deadly overdose and it has no record of such an event in the last two and a half weeks at the location given by Rustad.

The service says if first responders were on scene and a person died “a coroner would be called,” and it would also be notified if a person received resuscitation but later died in hospital.

BC Emergency Health Services also says it has “no records of any patient events” on Tuesday at the corner of Robson and Hornby streets, “or on the blocks immediately adjacent to that intersection.”

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Neither Rustad nor the B.C. Conservative Party responded to a request for comment about what Rustad says he saw.

He had used the anecdote during his debate with NDP Leader David Eby and Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau as an illustration of what he called “the British Columbia that David Eby has created.”

“I was on my way over here, and on the corner of Robson and Hornby, there was an individual who died, and there was emergency people rushing (around). This person died from an overdose,” he said.

He was asked to elaborate at the post-debate press conference.

“(What) I saw from the window as I was looking down at this individual on the ground with the emergency people pumping his chest trying to bring him back to life and an ambulance coming up … I mean, it just, it’s horrendous to think that that is becoming normal place on our streets here in Vancouver and across this province.”

BC Coroners Service media relations manager Amber Schinkel said in an emailed response to questions that she had “reviewed drug toxicity deaths in Vancouver since September 25, 2024, and there is nothing near this address.”

Asked if there were circumstances in which the service would not record a death, she said if it involved drug toxicity the coroner would be notified.

“If first responders had attempted to resuscitate a person at a scene and the person died, a coroner would be called. If first responders transported the person to hospital, where they later died, the Coroners Service would still be notified,” she said.

She said an exception was if a person was in their home in the area and under a doctor’s care when they died, “a death through MAID for example,” then the service would not be notified.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press