RCMP Need To Confirm Intoxication In Cells: Family

Wednesday, December 08, 2010 at 13:36

The family of an Aboriginal woman who died after being kept overnight in police cells is upset with the fact police assumed she was drunk.

Ida Paul died in Battlefords Union Hospital on June 10th, 2009.

She was arrested at about midnight the previous evening and spent the night in the drunk tank.

When she didn’t appear to have sobered up after 12 hours, the RCMP called an ambulance, which took her to hospital.

A coroner’s inquest underway in North Batttleford has heard police believed Paul was drunk from the way she was behaving.

A pathologist testified the primary cause of her death appears to have been liver and kidney failure.

The inquest heard today that liver failure can cause a person to be confused.

Ida’s brother, Percy Paul, says he would like to see police have more equipment in cells to conclusively determine if a person is drunk.

The inquest is hearing its last witness this afternoon, an internal medicine specialist.