Coroner, jury watch video of prisoner who died in cell
Mountie says man complained of having trouble breathing but he noticed no physical signs of trouble
Steven Joseph Scott’s jail cell death was captured on video.
However, the images from the Penticton RCMP lockup appeared to confirm how difficult it was for anyone to notice the 30-year-old prisoner had passed away in the middle of the night.
A coroner’s inquest into Scott’s death in the early morning hours of Aug. 10, 2012, entered its second day Tuesday at the Penticton Court House.
Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth, the RCMP’s watch commander on duty at the time, provided commentary while about 25 minutes of edited video footage of Scott’s time in the cells was shown to coroner Larry Marzinzik and a five-member jury.
An intoxicated Scott had been brought into the detachment at about 7:45 a.m. the previous morning and was at first placed in the drunk tank. About seven hours later, he was transferred to a regular cell prior to an afternoon telephone hearing before a justice of the peace. He was ordered to remain in custody pending a court appearance the next day.
Wrigglesworth, who came on duty at 7 p.m. on Aug. 9, said he was notified by a guard that Scott had been complaining that he was having trouble breathing. He entered the cell to check on the prisoner at about 7:25 p.m.
“He was telling me that he needed an ambulance because he couldn’t breathe,” the RCMP officer said.
However, Wrigglesworth said he didn’t notice any physical signs of difficulties, such as shortness of breath or deteriorated quality of breath, while Scott continued yelling and swearing for several minutes.
The video did not show Scott banging or kicking at his cell door, as had been suggested in testimony Monday by a prisoner occupying a nearby cell.
Wrigglesworth said he decided against taking Scott to hospital, as had occurred previously when Scott was serving an intermittent weekend sentence.
“A number of people will test the system if they’ve been there before. It’s not always a valid complaint,” he said. “There wasn’t an emergency medical condition that was evident that would require an ambulance at this point.”
At about 10:45 p.m. Scott received a juice box, after earlier stating he suffered from low blood sugar.
“He settled down,” Wrigglesworth testified. “He wasn’t as anxious as he was a few hours earlier.”
At various times, the video showed Scott getting a cup of water from his jail cell sink.
Then, shortly after 2 a.m., he lay still on his bed, covered with a blanket, with his back to the cell door and security camera. He remained in that position without moving until his death was discovered at 10:45 a.m.
Wrigglesworth said he checked on all the prisoners in the cells at about 5:45 a.m. He looked at Scott through the cell door’s Plexiglas window and then put his ear to the open food-tray slot.
He heard snoring, but said in retrospect that could have been snoring from another prisoner echoing through the cellblock.
The cellblock’s civilian guard is required to check on prisoners every 15 minutes, either by video camera or personal checks. RCMP policy states that only a police officer can enter a cell.
Further witness testimony in the inquest continues today.