THIRD MAN DIES IN POLICE CUSTODY IN SIX WEEKS

A man is dead after choking on a golfball-sized bag of crack-cocaine
as Surrey RCMP tried to arrest him, making him the third person to die
in their custody in the past six weeks.

Brandon Whitelaw, 22, was riding in a car with another man at about
4:30 p.m. Thursday when RCMP drug section members pulled them over for
minor traffic infractions, said Insp. Garry Begg.

The two men had just left a well-known crack house near Ravine Road
that was under police surveillance, he said.

Police saw evidence of drugs in the car, removed the men from the
vehicle and arrested them near the corner of 106th Avenue and 132nd
Street.

"Shortly after they came into contact with the two occupants . . .
they realized that one of the occupants was choking," Begg said on
Friday. "They rendered what assistance they could . . . while they
called an ambulance."

Whitelaw was taken to Surrey Memorial Hospital, where he died despite
further efforts to revive him.

Begg said the plastic bag containing about 11 rocks of crack-cocaine
was pulled intact from Whitelaw's throat, but an autopsy that was
scheduled for Friday will determine the exact cause of his death.

"In general terms, it's very common for people who are transporting
drugs to store them in their mouth when police arrive," Begg said.

The other man in the car wasn't charged.

Ryan Alexander Wagemans, 24, died on July 1 after transit security
removed him from a bus near the Newton loop for causing trouble. After
police arrived, the Langley man became combative and became medically
distressed. He died in hospital.

Another Surrey man died in hospital on June 19 after fighting with an
RCMP officer two days earlier on Crescent Road.

David James Stitt, 46, approached the officer holding a stick, but she
subdued him with pepper spray and a baton.

Stitt collapsed after he was taken into a police cruiser; he received
CPR.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has taken over the most
recent case, which is subject to further scrutiny from the Commission
for Public Complaints Against the RCMP and an RCMP officer independent
of the Surrey detachment.