RCMP mistakes stroke victim for drunk, leaving him half-paralyzed in jail cell for hours

Alan Ruel's life changed forever the day he was arrested by RCMP for being drunk in a public place even though he says he hadn't had a drink. Officers put the Crossfield, Alta., man in a jail cell for more than 18 hours - virtually ignoring his deteriorating condition as he suffered a massive stroke, according to a lawsuit. RCMP surveillance video from the Airdrie detachment, obtained by Go Public through Ruel's lawyer, recorded the 18 hours and 18 minutes he was in the cell. It shows in disturbing detail how he repeatedly collapsed, sat slumped in the corner for hours, and was left lying helpless on the concrete floor, half naked, one side of his body twitching while the other side was paralyzed by the stroke. "It was probably one of the worst days of my life. I was absolutely terrified. I was scared. You're alone. You're cold. You don't know why you're there. There's people that are supposed to help you ... I actually thought I was going to die at one point, and the thing that scared me is that I was going to die alone," Ruel, 73, told Go Public. An expert in policing says the evidence "speaks strongly" to violations of the RCMP's standard operating procedures. Curt Griffiths has been hired by Ruel's lawyer as an expert in a $6-million civil case against the police force, the government agencies that run it, and the officers involved. "I think there are some major lapses here, beginning with how Mr. Ruel [was] classified as a severely impaired person," said Griffiths, who has studied police policy for decades and now works as a professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University in B.C. "[RCMP] kept with that assumption for the next 18 hours in spite of evidence that there is a person undergoing a medical crisis," a mistake the RCMP has made before, he said. On July 16, 2015, Ruel suffered a small "disorienting event," according to the lawsuit, likely an initial stroke, causing him to slur his speech and be confused. In that state, he entered a bar to visit the owner, who was a friend. His clothing was dishevelled, his pants undone and his vehicle was parked on the sidewalk. According to police reports, a bar employee assumed he had arrived drunk - since Ruel had only had a glass of water at the bar - kicked Ruel out and called police. The arresting officer reported smelling alcohol on Ruel's breath. Ruel says he told officers he wasn't drunk and asked for a breathalyzer test but was denied.

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