Dawson Creek — The person taken to hospital Thursday morning after being arrested by the Dawson Creek RCMP has died from his injuries.
Sources tell CJDC TV News that Mike Viczko was flown to hospital in Edmonton with a broken neck, where he passed away on Friday morning.
BC RCMP say that at 8:00 a.m. Thursday morning, police were called to the 7-Eleven on 8th Street and 104 Avenue for reports of three men with firearms and bear spray.
Officers attended the scene, where one of the three men is alleged to have been combative with police while being arrested.
The man ended up going into medical distress and lost consciousness once in custody, leading RCMP to perform ‘life-saving measures’ on the man while they waited for paramedics to arrive.
Another one of the three men taken into custody fled on foot, but was later arrested outside another convenience store on 105th Avenue.
The event leading to four police officers being injured, with three of the Mounties requiring medical addition. There is currently no word on the condition of the officers who required medical attention.
The Independent Investigation Office (IIO) has taken over the case, and is now investigating police actions in the incident.
The IIO is asking that anyone who saw any part of the June 20th incident between the man and police to please contact the IIO to speak to an investigator.
The IIO would specifically like to speak to several people who were at the 7-11 during the incident:
- A man wearing glasses, an orange or yellow baseball-style hat, a red shirt with possibly a blue shirt underneath, a dark leather jacket, and blue jeans.
- A man with shoulder-length hair and a mustache wearing a black baseball-style hat, a dark-coloured shirt with a tan or beige button overshirt/jacket, and dark-coloured pants or jeans. The man had a pair of sun or regular glasses on his hat, and another pair hanging from his shirt.
- A man wearing glasses with a goatee, a dark-coloured “dry goods prod.” shirt with a dark-coloured unzipped hoodie on top, dark pants or jeans and drives a red Ford pickup truck.
- A man with short brown hair and a clean-shaven face, wearing a black or dark-coloured t-shirt, and dark jeans or pants who drives a red Nissan pickup truck with body-matched bumpers and hard canopy.
- A man wearing a dark-coloured baseball-style hat with sunglasses on top, a long-sleeved, light-coloured striped buttoned shirt, and blue jeans who drives a silver Ford Explorer.
Drivers of the vehicles may have been from either BC or Alberta.
The IIO investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.