Medicine Hat police officers cleared in 2023 in-custody death [Video]

Alberta’s police watchdog says the Medicine Hat police officers who were involved in an in-custody death in August 2023 acted reasonably and with appropriate force in dealing with a suspect armed with a machete.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) released its investigation report into the death of a man following a confrontation with members of the Medicine Hat Police Service on Aug. 6, 2023.

The incident began when police were called to an apartment building about an agitated person, armed with a machete, who was “yelling at an imaginary person.”

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Responding officers first used pepper balls and then ARWEN rounds to incapacitate the suspect who began to approach the officers.

The suspect retreated after being struck with the plastic rounds in the legs, so police deployed CS gas to force him to give …