SIU investigating man’s death after arrest

‘It was unjust. They used way too much force,’ man’s ex-spouse says

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating after a 32year-old man died in hospital shortly after being arrested in Barrie on Friday afternoon.

A video taken by a bystander and posted on YouTube shows two officers grabbing Olando Brown, 32, and telling him to stop resisting while they force him to the ground.

The officers appear to use Tasers to subdue him. A third officer also joins in to hold him down.

Barrie police released a statement saying the man went into “medical distress” while he was in custody and being “booked” at police headquarters.

“He was immediately transported to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre by County of Simcoe Paramedics where, a short time later, he was pronounced deceased,” Const. Nicole Rodgers said.

The arrest took place at about 2:30 p.m. June 22 in downtown Barrie.

Donna Dubois, Brown’s exspouse, said she was distressed by what she saw in the video.

“It was a rough, rough day. I couldn’t stomach it,” she said. “It was unjust. They used way too much force.”

The SIU has assigned three investigators and two forensic investigators to the case. Three subject officers — the Barrie police officers involved in the arrest — and one witness officer have been designated.

Dubois said she will fight for “justice” for Brown, who was her spouse for six years before they broke up. He was the father to her 11-year-old daughter.

“He was always smiling. He was an amazing dad to her. They were best buddies,” Dubois said. “I loved him and I still love him. He was a good man.”

Dubois said she is convinced the officers used the Tasers too much.

“He was a young, healthy man. He played soccer all the time,” she said.

Rodgers said Barrie police cannot release more information because the SIU has invoked its mandate to investigate the death. The charges that led to Brown’s arrest were not released.

Olaseni Soetan, a friend of Brown, said he last saw him on June 17, when they went to church together.

“He gave his life to Christ and he wept. The ministering pas- tor prayed with him and I drop him back home. That was the last time I saw him,” Soetan wrote on Facebook.

Dubois said Brown came to Canada from Jamaica with his grandmother18 years ago when he was 14 “to try to find a better life.”

Breaking down into tears during the telephone interview, she said she must make arrangements to transport his body back to Jamaica. “I just wish I didn’t have to be getting him back home like this. I shouldn’t have to be planning a funeral.”

Dubois said she is struggling to explain Brown’s death to her daughter, while trying to prevent her from seeing the arrest video on social media.

“She wanted to watch the video to see who did this to her dad,” she said. “I don’t know how she is ever going to trust the police now.”