Chief medical examiner calls inquest for 30-year-old who died in Winnipeg police custody in 2019

Manitoba's chief medical examiner has called an inquest into the death of a manin Winnipeg police custody in 2019.

Patrol officers spotted Randy Cochrane, 30, carrying a weapon and seemingly bleeding near the corner of Flora Avenue and Parr Street, in the Dufferin neighbourhood, shortly before 4 p.m. on July 14, 2019, the Winnipeg Police Service said at the time.

The officers chased Cochrane to a nearby yard, where he was eventually arrested. But while he was being restrained, he became unresponsive, according to a news release issued Friday by the office of the chief medical examiner.

Cochrane was rushedto hospital but was later pronounced dead following prolonged CPR, the release says.

An autopsy found the cause of death to be toxic effects of methamphetamine, cocaine and alcohol. Other contributing factors were cardiomegaly(an enlarged heart) and physiologic stress linked to the foot chase and restraint, the release says.

The death was deemed accidental.

A fatality inquiry is called when the person who died was in police custody at the time, a resident in a custodial facility such as a nursing home, an involuntary resident in a facility under the Mental Health Act, or a resident in a development centre as defined in the Vulnerable Persons Living with a Mental Disability Act.

A inquest canalso be called ifthe chief medical examiner has reasonable grounds to believe the deceased died as a result of use of force by a police officer acting in the course of duty.

In this case, the inquest was also called to determine the circumstances surrounding Cochrane's death and to learn how to prevent a similar occurrence in the future, the release says.

Information about when and where the inquest will take place will be determined by the chief judge of the provincial court of Manitoba. The information will be released at a later date.

Cochrane lived in Fisher River Cree Nation and fathered three children.

When he died, Cochrane was the fourth in-custody death the WPS had at that point in2019, according to the IIU.