OFFICERS ASSUMED MAN MENTALLY ILL

Cocaine's Effects Not Considered, Inquest Jurors Told

After dragging a limp Kenneth Allen into a Toronto police station in
November, 1991, officers failed to recognize signs of cocaine
consumption and assumed the 32-year-old man was mentally ill, an
inquest jury has heard.

Only a few months before, then-police chief Peter Scott sent a memo to
officers reminding them of the "serious escalation of cocaine-related
deaths of persons in police custody."

In a police video of AlIen's 30 minutes at the station, shown at the
inquest yesterday, one police officer is seen dragging Allen by
holding a nightstick at the man's neck.

When asked what was coming into the station, Sergeant Mike Stowell
responded: "Total f---ing M-I (mentally ill). Tried to strangle TTC
driver. Real violent."

Allen was arrested Nov. 29, 1991, after assaulting a streetcar driver
while high on cocaine. When he was brought to 52 Division station
around 11:41 p.m. that night, Allen was dragged by four officers from
the police cruiser to a small room at the station called the bullpen.

The key question at the inquest is what caused Allen's death: the
injuries he received from the officer's nightstick, the cocaine he had
ingested or a combination of both?

An ambulance was called and paramedics arrived at the station around
11:53 p.m. At 12:12 a.m., he was taken to hospital where he was
pronounced dead a short time later.

Although one officer shook Allen while he was limp and another
appeared to have checked for a pulse, none of the four officers in the
bullpen attempted first aid or CPR.

The memo posted in Toronto police stations on July 29 that year
reminded officers to be aware of the signs of cocaine use -- violence,
bizarre behaviour and paranoia -- all signs displayed by Allen that
night.

In the memo, which was introduced as an exhibit yesterday, officers
were told not to wait for signs or symptoms of cocaine use before
taking a person in custody to hospital. The first sign of cocaine
consumption is often cardiac arrest, it states.

"Where these symptoms are evident the following factors should be
considered in this order: cocaine, other drugs/alcohol, mental
illness," the memo later states. In the event of such symptoms,
officers should transport the person to hospital, it continues.

Constable Chris Ellis, who has been an officer for 34 years, was the
booking officer that night, responsible for videotaping Allen's entry
and stay at the station. "In our experience, people in that (Allen's)
state don't come into the booking hall. People in that state are taken
to the hospital."

However, in later testimony, Ellis noted that often people who are
arrested "play possum" or pretend to be unconscious. If a person,
while being brought into the station, went limp, he said he would
continue to bring in the person and assess the situation inside.