Independent watchdog investigating after man dies following 'interaction' with RCMP in Shediac

The Serious Incident Response Team is investigating an incident in Shediac last week that led to the death of a 43-year-old man after an "interaction" with RCMPduring a medical call.

According to a news release from SIRT on Wednesday, emergency medical serviceswere sent to a residence on May 29 for a man "in medical distress." Southeast RCMP were called to assist.

"When police arrived, they entered the residence and located the male," states the news release. "An altercation ensued between police and the male and a taser was deployed."

The man went into "medical distress" and was taken to hospital where he later died.

When reached by phone Wednesday, SIRT director Erin Nauss said the incident occurred at an apartment in Shediac. She declined to provide other details, including the nature of the medical problem, since they will become part of theinvestigation of the incident.

The team is responsible for investigating all matters that involve death, serious injury, sexual assault and intimate partner violence or other matters of a public interest that may have arisen from the actions of a police officer.

The Nova Scotia-based response team investigates incidents in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Last October, SIRT opened a New Brunswick office in Marysville Place in Fredericton. Earlier in the year, the province finalized an agreement with Nova Scotia to expand SIRT to New Brunswick, with its own office and resources, to investigate serious incidents involving police officers and more than two years after an agreement in principle.

The Nova Scotia-based response team has been the go-to agency, but it didn't always have the resources to take on New Brunswick investigations, forcing the province to look elsewhere for cases, including the two high-profile shooting deaths of Chantel Moore and Rodney Levi in June 2020.

Nauss said SIRT currently has 10 "active/open" investigations in New Brunswick.

All SIRT investigations "are under the direction and control of an independent civilian director, who has the sole authority to determine if charges should be laid at the conclusion of an investigation," according to the press release on the Shediac incident.