Alexis Roberts felt some relief today as she listened intently to the testimony at an inquest revolving around the death of her father, 49-year-old John Roberts, at the North Bay Courthouse.
Roberts died in hospital on the afternoon of December 15, 2016 while in OPP custody.
“It was more or less for closure and I did not have any closure before this,” said Alexis, who lives in Sault Ste. Marie.
Roberts listened for two days to expert witnesses and OPP officials relating to the events leading up to her father’s death two years ago. The two-day inquest, which is mandatory under the Coroners Act, examined the circumstances surrounding Mr. Roberts' death.
A toxicology report and testimony by Forensic Toxicologist Dr. Natalie Desrosier and Pathologist Dr. Martin Queen revealed Roberts had high levels of fentanyl and trace amounts of cocaine in his system at the time of his death.
A jury made up of four women and one man concluded that his death was accidental due to acute fentanyl and cocaine intoxication combined with heart disease.
The OPP pulled Roberts over during a traffic stop near Rutherglen after 911 reports came in earlier that day of an erratic driver along Highway 17 E.
According to the summary, an OPP officer (Sgt. Turner) then arrested Roberts and charged him with driving while impaired. As they were traveling down the highway, Turner noticed Roberts was having difficulty breathing in the back of the cruiser. Soon after, Turner called another officer and a paramedic to meet him.
When they stopped, Roberts appeared to have no vital signs and he was rushed to the North Bay Regional Health Centre where he was pronounced dead at around 4:15 p.m. that day.
After hearing all the testimony, the jury also made a recommendation that police across the province look into the feasibility of having portable defibrillators installed in their cruisers.
As for Alexis Roberts, who was joined by her grandmother, it was difficult hearing the testimony relating to her father’s drug use.
“The toughest part was kind of finding out that it was kind of due to an overdose, he had been clean for so long before,” she said while trying to hold back tears.
While it was tough listening to all the testimony, Alexis says the family is satisfied with the outcome of the inquest.
“I had been living under a rock with this whole thing for two years,” she said.
