Inquest set for man who died while being arrested in Port Coquitlam

More than four years after police officers were cleared of wrongdoing, B.C. Coroners Service is set to conduct an inquest into the death of Melvin Viggo Gary Erickson.

Erickson was 52.

As he was being arrested, Erickson repeatedly told officers he couldn’t breathe. He died at the scene of his arrest while handcuffed shortly after leading a police officer on a foot chase on the Mary Hill Bypass, according to a report from B.C.’s Independent Investigations Office.

A coroner’s inquest is mandatory for anyone who dies in police custody.

Timeline

It was a little after 5 p.m. on Dec. 22, 2019 when police officers arrived at a Port Coquitlam home to arrest Erickson.

Erickson fled the scene, making his way down a steep hill toward the highway.

A Coquitlam RCMP officer who was doing traffic duty at the time: “noticed something moving in the brush north of the highway,” according to the IIO report.

He saw a man emerge from the undergrowth beside the westbound lanes of the Mary Hill Bypass.

The man was nearly hit by a car while trying to flag down vehicles, according to the officer.

He drove toward Erickson, switching on his emergency lights and calling, “Hey come here!” after getting out of his car.

Erickson, “immediately fled farther along the highway and farther into traffic,” according to the report. The traffic officer called for backup as he followed Erickson on foot, “yelling for him to stop and get down on the ground.”

Vehicles had stopped and Erickson ran between them. He had what looked like blood on his face and clothes. He appeared confused and “almost fearful,” saying he needed help, according to the report.

The officer said he tried to take the man to the ground with an arm bar, but he pulled away and jumped over the concrete divider into eastbound traffic, “which was still moving at normal speeds.”

Again, the man was nearly hit before jumping back to the westbound side of the median.

He eventually ran to a stopped SUV and opened the rear passenger side door.

The officer said he heard a woman in the SUV screaming. He grabbed Erickson by the back of the neck and shirt and tried to pull him from the SUV.

Erickson was able to push the officer away with enough force that the officer, “stumbled backwards several metres before falling to the ground.”

The officer got up and was again “pushed violently” onto the shoulder of the highway.

An audio recording picks up sounds of a struggle and the officer yelling: “Get off the fucking car, get over here, back away.”

Erickson can be heard saying: “Please help me.”

A witness got out of his car and tried to calm Erickson down, saying: “Just relax, it’s over buddy.”

The witness said the officer seemed to be trying to help but was “just out of his weight class.”

The civilian eventually turned Erickson around and held him against the hood of a vehicle.

The officer said: “Can you throw him onto the ground?”

After instructing another civilian to grab Erickson’s legs, the officer and the civilian both fell on top of Erickson, according to the officer.

Erickson was rolled onto his stomach. He was trying to get up, according to the officer, who said he used his forearm to hold Erickson’s head down.

On the police audio recording, Erickson can be heard shouting: “Help!” and “You’re hurting me.” He becomes panicked and tells the officer: “I can’t breathe.”

His inability to breathe was due to his health condition and not the way the officer was applying force, according to the autopsy report.

Cellphone video shows the officer leaning with his weight on Erickson’s back. The civilian held Erickson’s right arm, telling him: “You’ve just got to relax, and you’ll be able to breathe.”

Two police officers arrived on the scene to assist.

Cellphone video shows the two officers forcing Erickson’s arms behind his back as the traffic officer put him in handcuffs.

The traffic officer said he wasn’t sure if either of the other officers put their body weight on Erickson.

“It is not clear from the video if either officer applied his weight to [Erickson’s] back, or was only kneeling beside him,” the report stated.

For about a minute after the other two officers arrived, Erickson could be heard repeatedly saying: “I can’t breathe.”

Officers were heard trying to reassure him by saying, “It’s going to be OK.”

An officer told Erickson he was going to be searched.

“Within seconds, though, an officer notes that [Erickson] is not conscious, there is immediately a call for paramedics to attend and an officer says, ‘Get him in the recovery position,’” the IIO report stated.

Footage from the officer’s dashcam corroborates the evidence,” according to the IIO report.

The traffic officer acknowledged Erickson had said he couldn’t breathe but that it wouldn’t have been safe to reposition him “because of the way he had been resisting and struggling.”

A witness who had been at the Port Coquitlam home with Erickson told investigators Erickson was taking medication for a heart condition, and that he’d also taken “an unknown quantity of cocaine.”

According to the autopsy, the cause of death was due to cocaine and methadone combined with high blood pressure, enlarged heart, and plaque build-up in the arteries.

The IIO concluded the traffic officer “was clearly acting lawfully,” noting that he was trying to stop Erickson from running in traffic.

The other two officers were justified in using force to put Erickson in handcuffs, according to the IIO.

“There is no evidence that anything more than this necessary and reasonable degree of force was applied,” IIO Chief Civilian Director Ronald MacDonald concluded.

There were no reasonable ground to believe an officer committed a crime, MacDonald wrote.

Inquest

The upcoming inquest is an effort to determine how, when, and by what means Erickson died.

In some cases, the inquest includes recommendations intended to prevent deaths in similar circumstances.

The inquest is scheduled for Oct. 1.