An inquest into the 2018 death of a Barrie man while in police custody will begin March 4.
Dr. Kenneth Peckham, regional supervising coroner for Central Region, announced the date for the inquest into the death of Olando Brown on Tuesday.
Brown, 32, died on June 22, 2018 while in the custody of the Barrie Police Service. An inquest into his death is mandatory under the Coroners Act.
The inquest, which is expected to last five days and hear from seven witnesses, will examine the circumstances surrounding his death. The jury can make recommendations aimed at preventing further deaths.
It will be conducted by video conference and is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, March 4. Dr. Richard McLean will be the presiding officer and John Rinaldi will be the inquest counsel.
Brown had an outstanding arrest warrant for assault, and had been placed in custody less than two hours before his death that summer day.
During a struggle with police, officers used a stun gun on him four times for an elapsed time of 21 seconds at the Five Points in downtown Barrie during his arrest, which was caught on video.
In 2019, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said Brown's cause of death was determined to be an airway obstruction after he pulled two drug-filled, "golf ball-sized" plastic bags from his rectal area and attempted to swallow them during a search at police headquarters, which at that time was located on Sperling Drive.
Health Canada later determined the bags contained heroin, fentanyl, caffeine and the painkiller dimethylsulphone, although they did not contribute to Brown's death because the substances did not enter his bloodstream, according to the report.
The SIU's report determined no criminal charges would be laid against the city police officers who were involved in Brown's arrest.
Following Brown's arrest, he was examined by paramedics at the police station and found to be in good health. They removed the stun-gun probes from his shoulder and left the building.
Brown was then taken to another room with two officers for a strip search. To protect his privacy, the SIU says the video equipment was disabled, which is in compliance with Barrie police policy for such searches, while the audio continued to record.
The SIU said Brown "suddenly" removed objects from his rectal area and placed them in his mouth. The officers tried to remove them, but were unsuccessful.
Not long after, Brown went into medical distress. Officers performed CPR and the paramedics, who were still in the parking lot, were called back inside.
Brown was found without vital signs and attempts were made to save his life. He was rushed to hospital where two balloons were removed from his throat.
After some time spent trying to resuscitate him, Brown was pronounced dead.
