The final days of Sailor Dan

More:Sailor Dan's death shines a light on wider issues of mental health and homelessness

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Sailor Dan's last port of call before his final trip to jail was a nautically-themed health supplement store called Popeye's.

Daniel James Hicks, also known as Sailor Dan, had hisfinal encounter with Saskatoon police June 26 after staff at the Eighth Street storecomplained that he'd damaged property and taken off with a $50 jar of protein powder.

The allegations will not be tested in court.Sailor Dandied at St. Paul's Hospital early Tuesday morning. He was 65.

Nathan Bodnarchuk co-owns the Popeye's location and saidits relationship with Sailor Dan dates back to when it opened in 2007. Not surprisingly, the panhandling sketch artist was drawn to the store's nautical theme.

"He'd be selling his drawings around our area and he would often pop his head in our door and shout, 'I'm Popeye the sailor man,' " Bodnarchuk said.

He said the relationship had more highs than lows. Over the years, he amused staff and customers with his eccentricities and was happy to pose for photos and take Popeye's hats and mugs.

But on June 26he showed up at the store mid-morning when a single staffer was there, Bodnarchuk said. Sailor Dan was agitated and aggressive, demanding free Popeye's ball caps, according to Bodnarchuk, and when the employeeasked him to leavehe knocked over a display of jars and left with a container of collagen powder.

The employee locked the doors and called Bodnarchuk, who called police.

"It's unfortunate that we were involved with Sailor Dan not in a positive light toward the end," Bodnarchuk said.

"We'll think back to the good times."

Back in the system

Daniel James Hicks turned up in provincial court on June 27, charged with theft under $5,000, failing to keep the peace and mischief.

He had been out of custody for a single day at that point, having just finished serving a 15-day sentence on similar charges.

He was remanded to the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, then appeared in court again on July 3.

Aleida Oberholzer was his lawyer for that appearance. She said the plan that morning was to release him back into the community because the allegations were relatively minor.

"Mr. Hicks, Sailor Dan, was having lucid moments where it seemed like he was prepared to proceed. Once court opened and we were going to go ahead and get him out again at least back into the community, his behaviour turned erratic," she said.

"He indicated that he wanted to plead both guilty and not guilty, in open court. And then suddenly it seemed like he didn't know where he was anymore and neither I, nor the Crown, nor the judge felt comfortable enough to proceed."

They agreed to set the matter aside for a week, until July 10, in hopes Hickswould stabilize and they could move ahead, she said.

Court documents show that Hicks's behaviour at the jail so concerned staff that, only two days later on July 5, the judge ordered he be taken to the Regional Psychiatric Centre for an assessment to see whether he was unfit to stand trial.

While at the Centre, his health took a sudden turn for the worse.

On July 8 he was moved to St. Paul's Hospital. He died less than 24 hours later.

An obituary posted on the website of the Martens WarmanFuneral Home says Hicks died of respiratory failure. Aprivate service will be held at an unspecified later date.

The family extended thanks to St. Paul's ICU staff in the obituary and asked that, insteadof flowers, people consider donating to theRUH Foundation Community Mental Health Endowment in Hicks's memory.

An in-custody death

The Saskatchewan Coroners Service is investigating Hicks's death because he died while in custody. Even though he had taken ill at the federally-run Regional Psychiatric Centre, once transferred to St. Paul's he fell back under provincial authority.

There will be an autopsy. If the coroner is satisfied that his death was by natural causes and notpreventable, there will be no inquest.

"Foul play is not suspected nor is an overdose of any kind," said Drew Wilby with Saskatchewan Justice.

Oberholzer recounted the last time she saw Sailor Dan.

"His last action, when he left court after we'd told him that we weren't comfortable with him leaving that day, he did salute the court," she said.

"Like a sailor."