The long-awaited inquest into a man who died in RCMP custody after he was detained for public intoxication in The Pas has finally transpired. In 2019, John George Ettawakapow, known as Dot Dot, was 54 years old when he died in an RCMP holding cell, where he was detained with two other intoxicated individuals.
This triggered an inquest into Ettawakapow’s death through Manitoba’s Fatalities Inquiries Act. This act requires an inquest when a person dies in police custody.
Security video footage from the detachment showed officers carrying Ettawakapow into the cell and leaving him on the floor, where two other men were also lying. Just over an hour later, the video recorded one of the men moving their leg over Ettawakapow’s neck. Ettawakapow was shown as lifting his arm and grabbing toward his neck. Within minutes, Ettawakapow stopped moving.