IIO recommends charging 4 Mounties over man's death following struggle with officers

The province's police watchdog has recommended the Crown consider charging four B.C. RCMP officers in connection with the death of an Indigenous man who died in Mounties' custody nearly two years ago.

Dale Culver, 35, was arrested in Prince George, B.C., on July 18, 2017. 

RCMP had been called to the 1000 block of Central Street West after reports of a man "casing vehicles." Officials said Culver was arrested after a struggle with officers and placed in the back of a police cruiser.

Culver started having trouble breathing shortly afterward and paramedics were called.

"Police say once the ambulance arrived, the man was taken out of the police vehicle and collapsed. He was pronounced deceased shortly after," the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) of B.C. said in a statement Tuesday.

IIO investigators will be forwarding the matter to Crown for consideration of charges against two officers "in relation to issues surrounding the use of force during the struggle."

It has also asked the Crown to consider charges against two other officers in relation to allegations of obstruction of justice, in connection with a video of the alleged incident.

In January, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) said its members had spoken with "a number of people" who allege RCMP told witnesses to delete video footage of the arrest.

The association also questioned whether "explicit or implicit racial bias" played a role in the incident. Family members said Culver was a member of the Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan nations.

CBC has not corroborated any of the allegations raised by the BCCLA.

'There's a hole in our family'

Culver's cousin, Debbie Pierre, said she wasn't informed of her cousin's death until 24 hours later, when police arrived at her home in Moricetown, 400 kilometres northwest of Prince George.

She later found video footage of his arrest posted online.

"It was horrific," Pierre said.

Pierre said Culver was "known to police," but the father-of-three was in Prince George to get job training in order to "better" his life.

"There's a hole in our family," she said.