Boden Umpherville inquest scheduled for July in Prince Albert

A full five days have been set aside to examine the circumstances surrounding a man’s altercation with Prince Albert Police Service officers and the reasons he died.

The Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service has confirmed the inquest for Boden Umpherville will run from July 20 to July 24 at Court of King’s Bench in Prince Albert.

The 40-year-old died in April 2023.

The Saskatchewan Coroners Service is responsible for the investigation of all sudden, unexpected deaths. The purpose of an inquest is to establish who died, when and where that person died and the medical cause and manner of death. The coroner’s jury may make recommendations to prevent similar deaths.

Coroner Frederick Kovach will preside at the inquest.

Several social media videos of Umpherville’s initial arrest showed multiple police officers attempting to remove him from a vehicle. Conducted energy devices were used, as well as batons and pepper spray during the altercation.

Umpherville was taken to hospital in Saskatoon where he remained for another three weeks before he died.

Nearly two years after Umpherville’s death, the results of the investigation by the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) were released. The report’s conclusion was that police did not commit any criminal offences and their use of force was appropriate.

“The cause of the affected person’s death was determined to be cardiac arrest brought on by positional asphyxia and cocaine intoxication, with the involvement of a CEW (Conducted Energy Weapon) identified as only a possible, but unlikely contributing factor,” read the 13-page report.

The report stated Umpherville was in a stolen car with two other people at the time of his arrest, had a loaded Smith & Wesson 9 mm gun on his body and a knife strapped to his chest.

The car, a black Dodge Avenger, had been bought that same day by a woman who reported the car as stolen after she purchased it. When questioned by police, she claimed she had recovered the vehicle about three or four minutes before they were pulled over at about 3:30 am on April 1, 2023.

Since the vehicle had been identified as stolen, police pulled it over and in the ensuing confrontation, Umpherville first lied about who he was and then refused to be arrested. He had multiple outstanding warrants, was on release conditions from previous offences, and had a lifetime weapons ban.

A second woman, who was in the back seat of the vehicle, was later determined to have been buying cocaine at the time.

At the time of the incident, a number of “Justice for Boden” protests were also held and Umperville’s adopted brother Chase Sinclair told paNOW the findings did not match up with what he and the family were told.

Describing the SIRT report as a movie script, Sinclair added there was no accountability for the officers who were at the scene or an explanation of the trauma inflicted upon Umpherville’s body.

— with files from CJME News