GUELPH – The mother of an Arthur man who died in police custody last year has filed a second complaint with Ontario’s police oversight agency.
Nathaniel Schofield died of drug toxicity at the Rockwood OPP station on July 10, after being held in custody overnight.
He was a 36-year-old father of six.
Faye Dzikewich filed her first complaint about her son’s death with Ontario’s Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA) on Jan 9.
Dzikewich was notified a month later that the complaint would not be accepted because at that point a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation was still underway.
That investigation concluded on March 24, with SIU director Joseph Martino stating the officers involved “comported themselves with due care and regard for [Schofield’s] health and wellbeing.”
But in Dzikewich’s complaint, filed on June 12, she alleges her son’s death “was easily preventable” and he died due to:
- insufficient monitoring, which prevented OPP staff from realizing sooner that Schofield was in medical distress;
- OPP staff failing to perform appropriate first aid such as CPR;
- officers providing inaccurate information about his condition to paramedics and firefighters; and
- a malfunctioning panic alarm at the Rockwood OPP station.
According to the SIU report, when Schofield appeared to exhibit withdrawal symptoms, OPP staff offered several times to call for medical help but he refused.
Dzikewich, who has reviewed the video footage from Schofield’s cell, said there is no evidence he was offered medical care, and she does not believe he would have turned it down.
The SIU report states a staff member checked on Schofield every 15 minutes or so, but Dzikewich says the checks were just someone walking by and glancing into his cell – not nearly enough to assess his condition.
At a memorial for Nathaniel Schofield outside the OPP station in Rockwood last August organized by his mother Faye Dzikewich, centre, people held candles and signs with photos of Schofield. Photos by Robin George
OPP staff called 911 at about 10:15am, when Schofield was gasping for breath and appeared to be having a seizure.
Dzikewich, who has medical training, does not believe it was a seizure, but heart failure.
“If they reported the symptoms properly, he would be alive,” she alleges in her complaint.
Narcan was administered and a defibrillator was retrieved but not used, the SIU report states.
When paramedics arrived at 10:25am, Schofield had no vital signs. He was transported to Guelph General Hospital and pronounced dead at about 11:20am.
In her complaint, Dziekewich alleges OPP officers were “discreditable” and “neglectful” and “have unlawfully exercised their authority.”
In the SIU report, Martino stated that neither the OPP sergeant in charge of the station at the time of Schofield’s arrest, nor any other officers involved, “transgressed the limits of care” prescribed by law.
Asked for comment, Ontario Provincial Police Association spokesperson Scott Mills said the union “fully supports our members involved, who acted lawfully in accordance with their training and policy and procedure.”
Wellington County OPP spokesperson Matthew Burton said “it would be inappropriate” for the detachment to comment “as the matter is currently before the [LECA].”
