Man goes into ‘medical distress’ in Saskatoon police holding cell

A 29-year-old man was in critical condition in a Saskatoon hospital Saturday night after going into what police termed “medical distress” in their holding cells.

Police said in a release that at around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, a detention paramedic saw that the man — who had been put into cells about an hour earlier — was agitated and going into medical distress.

“The male’s condition continued to decline as paramedics assessed him, and the male was transported to hospital for further care and assessment,” police said in a release Saturday night. “The male is currently in critical condition, and family of the male has been contacted and are aware of his condition.”

Police contacted Saskatchewan’s Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) about the incident. SIRT’s executive director told the Saskatoon Police Service to investigate the incident, and assigned a SIRT investigator to go over police findings.

SIRT investigates alleged cases of serious injury, death, sexual assault or interpersonal violence arising from the actions of on- and off-duty police officers, or while an individual is in police custody.