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Nanaimo Mountie found not responsible for fall and injury

NANAIMO – Independent Investigations Office of B.C. concludes Nanaimo Mountie not at fault for man falling from cliff.

The Independent Investigations Office B.C. has determined a Nanaiamo RCMP officer is not responsible for injuries a man suffered when he fell over a cliff on Skinner Street in June.

The incident happened shortly before 2 a.m. June 29 when an RCMP officer, on foot patrol with the Bar Watch program, spotted a man who appeared to be urinating in a parking lot next to Club 241, according to the investigations office report released last week.

When the officer announced himself and shined a flashlight on the the man, he turned his head toward the officer while stepping stepping away and fell almost nine metres over a cliff.

The man sustained serious head injuries from the fall.

The officer and his partner searched for the man and called an ambulance when they found him unresponsive at the bottom of the cliff.

Witnesses that included the second police officer on patrol and two Club 241 employees verified the officer's account of what happened and said that he was never in physical contact with the man prior to the fall.

The victim of the fall, when interviewed by investigators, could not remember how he was injured. Hospital records, according to the report, indicated the man was intoxicated when he was admitted to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

Security camera footage showed the man had been in Club 241 for just under an hour prior to the incident.

The Independent Investigations Office concluded that the fall was accidental and no action has been recommended against the officer involved.