MISSISSAUGA – The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has ruled that no charges will be laid against the Wellington County OPP in the death of Nathaniel Schofield, who died in police custody last summer.
The decision, issued on March 24 by SIU director Joseph Martino, noted Schofield had ingested fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine the day before he died and an autopsy concluded he died of drug toxicity.
Martino stated Schofield’s arrest was “lawful” and neither the sergeant in charge of the OPP station at the time of Schofield’s arrest (the investigation’s subject officer) nor “any of the involved officers transgressed the limits of care” prescribed by law.
However, Schofield’s mother Faye Dzikewich feels not enough was done to provide her son the medical care he required.
“They should have gotten him medical attention right away,” she said. Instead, “they watched him die from withdrawal all night long.”
Schofield, 36, was arrested at about 8:30pm on July 9 after neighbours reported “a domestic disturbance in a backyard” of an Arthur home, the SIU report states.
He was initially transported to the OPP station in Teviotdale and just after 10pm he was moved to the Rockwood OPP station.
The SIU report states Schofield told police he had consumed crack cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamines earlier in the day and he warned them he would “probably be really sick in the next couple of hours” due the effects of withdrawal.
Dzikewich attributes the withdrawal symptoms at least in part to “benzos,” or benzodiazepines, for which she said Schofield had a prescription.
Withdrawal from benzodiazepines can be fatal in severe cases, and symptoms can include nausea, sweating, muscular pain, headaches and seizures.
Benzodiazepines are not mentioned in the SIU report.
When Schofield appeared to exhibit withdrawal symptoms, OPP staff offered several times to call for medical help but he refused, the report states.
Schofield experienced repeated vomiting and was moved to different cell in the morning of July 10, after which a staff member checked on him every 15 minutes or so, the report adds.
Shortly after 10:15am, “upon hearing a strange sound,” a staff member stated Schofield was “gasping for breath” and likely “suffering a seizure” so they yelled for help and sounded the station’s alarm.
Several people came to help, 911 was called and “two doses of nasal Narcan were administered,” according to the SIU report.
“A defibrillator was retrieved but was not used on the advice of the paramedic call centre as one of the officers … believed he had felt a pulse.”
Paramedics arrived at the OPP station at about 10:25am and discovered Schofield had no vital signs.
He was transported to Guelph General Hospital and pronounced deceased at about 11:20am.
Martino found that Schofield’s arrest was “lawful” as there was “sufficient evidence” to take him into custody.
“I am also satisfied that the [subject officer] and the police custodians more directly responsible for [Schofield’s] care, comported themselves with due care and regard for his health and wellbeing,” he added.
“For the foregoing reasons, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case. The file is closed,” he concluded.
But for Dzikewich, the matter is far from over.
“For them (SIU officials) to paint this ugly picture is just sickening,” she said.
“He was a good father. He loved his kids. And they are pretty broken … It’s a nightmare, all of it.”
The hardest part is knowing her son suffered for so long in the Rockwood OPP cell before his death, she said.
“They let him suffer for hours on end,” she said. “I just couldn’t imagine the pain he must have suffered.”
Dzikewich has filed a complaint with the Ontario Ombudsman and has been contacting political representatives and government officials with the hopes of drawing attention to the SIU investigation of her son’s death and advocating to change how the SIU operates.
“I will speak the truth as I know it,” she told the Advertiser.
“I hope a new politician gets elected or even a prime minister that’s going to grab this bull by the horn and put [the SIU] down.”
