An Abbotsford Police patch is worn by an officer at RCMP ”E” Division headquarters in Surrey, B.C., on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns)

By The Canadian Press, Alyssa Conti

Investigation Concludes

No consideration of charges for Abbotsford, B.C., officer in fatal arrest outside Mission fast-food place: IIO

Aug 7, 2026 | 11:56 AM

MISSION — British Columbia’s police watchdog agency says it doesn’t believe an Abbotsford officer committed an offence when a traffic-stop arrest turned fatal last year.

The Independent Investigations Office says in a report into the death of a man on Feb. 9, 2025, that the case was “unfortunately” an escalation from a “straightforward traffic stop.”

The man was driving a pickup truck when police followed him, believing the vehicle may have been stolen, before stopping and arresting him outside a Mission, B.C., fast-food restaurant, at the Junction Mall complex.

Witnesses, including other officers, bystanders and a passenger in the truck, told investigators that the man verbally sparred with police using profanities before a struggle when he refused to lie down on the ground, possibly due to a mobility issue.

Pepper spray was used during the arrest, and the man was placed in the back of a police car before he stopped breathing and was taken to hospital, where he later died.

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Investigation Concludes

No consideration of charges for Abbotsford, B.C., officer in fatal arrest outside Mission fast-food place: IIO

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The autopsy found the man died from a combination of acute intoxication from drugs, including methamphetamine, the stress from the struggle and pre-existing medical conditions of heart disease and obesity.

Chief Civilian Director Jessica Berglund says in the report that while the responding officers were “acting largely on suspicions rather than hard evidence” when they stopped the truck, the death would not have happened if the man co-operated fully as the law requires.

Berglund says the man’s aggressiveness in swearing at the officers may have increased the officers’ risk assessment in judging that the man needed to be handcuffed.

“It cannot be said, in the circumstances, that any of the officers used force that was unnecessary or excessive,” she says.

No consideration of charges for Abbotsford, B.C., officer in fatal arrest outside Mission fast-food place: IIO

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