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There will be no criminal charges against Gatineau police officers in connection with the death of a man who fell from a fourth-storey window of the Hull Hospital in July 2023, Quebec’s Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions announced Wednesday.
After examining a report produced by the Bureau of Independent Investigations, Quebec’s police watchdog, the prosecution office ruled that the police officers involved in the incident “did everything in their power to reason with the man and prevent him from committing the irreparable.”
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The report posted Wednesday said police officers had responded to a 911 call at about 1 a.m. on July 11, 2023, from security at the Hull Hospital. A man who had been in the emergency waiting room had gone up to the fourth floor of the building, grabbed a fire extinguisher and spread its powdery contents in the corridor and in the direction of security staff before seeking refuge in a lab containing flammable products.
By the time the first four police officers arrived, the man had smashed the exterior window of the lab and was trying to ignite a grey canister with a lighter.
Police were initially unable to establish a conversation with the man, the report added, but after the arrival of two others a female officer was able to begin discussions with the man from the ground outside the hospital.
That officer went temporarily to the fourth floor, but then returned outside the building.
The man shifted between standing in the room and sitting on the sill of the broken window. Wednesday’s report said he continued to be “verbally aggressive” and did not respond to police requests.
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Firefighters called to the scene deployed a ladder from their truck to within 20 feet of the broken window, but did not send a firefighter up that ladder because of safety risks.
“Then, without warning, the man steps out with both feet into the void, hangs himself by his hands on the edge of the window and lets himself fall into the void,” the report said. “He will only say one word before letting go: ‘Goodbye.’”
First responders began resuscitation efforts on the man and he was transported to the emergency room by paramedics. However, he was pronounced dead by a doctor 20 minutes later.
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