B.C.’s police watchdog says a Kamloops RCMP officer who drove away after being asked to check on a man who was slumped over at the North Shore bus loop will not face charges.

In a report released today, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. notes the subject of the wellness check on June 28 of last year was later found dead of a fentanyl overdose.

The IIO says a man who was walking by the bus loop approached a police officer who was filling up his cruiser at a nearby gas station around 5:30 p.m. that day after he saw two men slumped over under a blanket.

The officer reportedly told that witness that he would check on the pair, but ended up driving away in the opposite direction.

The victim was later pronounced dead by paramedics, though according to the IIO, another witness – who checked on the victim around 7 p.m. – told investigators that he felt the man had been dead “for some time” before paramedics showed up.

In his report, IIO Chief Civilian Director Ronald J. MacDonald said there was “no eyewitness or expert medical evidence” that would help determine the man’s time of death or whether medical intervention might have saved his life.

“That means there is no way to know whether [the officer’s] failure to follow up on [the civilian’s] report did or did not contribute to his death,” MacDonald said.

While he concluded that there was a “measure of negligence” on the officer’s part, MacDonald says there wasn’t enough evidence to say if that negligence caused the man’s death.

“While it can be said that [the officer] should have followed up on [the civilian’s] report, I do not consider that there are reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence under any enactment and therefore the matter will not be referred to Crown counsel for consideration of charges,” he added.

You can read the IIO report here.