A 22-year-old man died on Sunday after falling from the High Level Bridge in Lethbridge while police were responding to a report about him.
Lethbridge police say officers were called to a report of a man on the bridge deck. As they approached, according to police, the man backed away and fell from the bridge. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured.
Alberta's Serious Incident Response Team, known as ASIRT, has been called in to investigate.
Why ASIRT is involved
ASIRT's involvement does not mean police are suspected of wrongdoing. It's what happens automatically in a situation like this.
ASIRT is Alberta's independent, civilian-led police watchdog. It investigates any incident where someone is seriously hurt or dies in connection with the actions of police or peace officers, regardless of whether officers did anything wrong. Because officers were present and responding when this man fell, the case goes to ASIRT by default. Its role is to establish independently what happened and whether police conduct played any part.
That review is now underway. ASIRT has not released further details, and no findings have been made.
What isn't known yet
At this stage, very little has been made public beyond the basic sequence, and it's worth being honest about that rather than filling the gaps.
The man has not been publicly identified. Police have not described what prompted the original call, what was said or done as officers approached, or the circumstances that led to the fall. Those are the questions ASIRT's investigation exists to answer, and they typically take months to resolve. ASIRT investigations usually conclude with a public report on whether the officers involved acted lawfully.
How these calls are handled
Police across Alberta are increasingly the first responders to people in distress in public places, and how those calls are managed has been the subject of years of review.
Lethbridge, like other Alberta cities, has moved toward pairing officers with mental-health supports on some calls. ASIRT's investigations into deaths that occur during police responses often examine exactly that: what training, tactics and options were available to the officers, and whether the response matched the situation. Those findings, when they come, are one of the ways policing practice gets examined and changed.
For now, ASIRT's review of Sunday's death will look at the full sequence, and it's likely to be months before any conclusions are made public.
If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. You can call or text 988, Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline, any time, day or night.
Sources:
Lethbridge Police Service, statement on the incident
Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), confirmation of investigation
As reported by Lethbridge News Now
