A screenshot from a phone recording showing Umpherville's arrest in 2023.

By Susan McNeil

SIRT Investigation

No criminal offences by police; Umpherville’s death caused by cardiac arrest

Mar 14, 2025 | 2:41 PM

Nearly two years after his death, an investigation determined police did not commit any criminal offences during the arrest of 40-year old Boden Umpherville in Prince Albert and their use of force was appropriate.

The Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) released the results of its investigation into the incident that occurred in April of 2023.

“As outlined in the autopsy report discussed above, 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 identified as only a possible, but unlikely contributing factor,” reads the 13-page report.

Boden Umpherville died of a heart attack, aggravated by cocaine ingestion and positional asphysxia. (File photo)

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

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The car, a black Dodge Avenger, had been bought that same day by the first witness, a woman, who had then reported it stolen. She told police later 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.

Other officers called to the scene recognized Umpherville and although he was told he was being arrested he refused to get out of the car, going so far as to brace himself inside, according to findings from the report.

During the continuing struggle with up to five officers who used various means to try and detain him including OC spray and collapsible batons, Umpherville managed to get from the passenger seat into the driver’s seat and put the car into drive and turn the wheel in an attempt to get away. Video footage shows the car driving forward and striking a parked police vehicle.

Five conducted energy weapons were also used by officers. CEWs (aka Tasers) have different settings and usage is recorded in the device so SIRT could determine how many times the devices actually had an impact.

In this case, warning arcs were fired and then followed by drive stuns which cause pain but do not incapacitate the target. If the CEW’s probes are deployed, the target’s muscles between where the two probes hit cause the muscles in between to briefly ‘freeze’ up.

The five CEWS were deployed in 15 individual usages; that included four warning arcs and 11 trigger presses that deployed nine sets of probes. Of the nine, four resulted in neuromuscular incapacitation.

The forensic pathologist concluded that the CEW may have played a possible, but unlikley role in Umpherville’s death. What the report said did play a role, was his physical positiona and the fact he ingested a large amount of cocaine.

When police managed to get him out of the car, Umpherville continued to resist being placed in handcuffs. It was at this point the arresting officers noted the gun on him and removed it. Recordings also detail a second request for an ambulance to be called.

In the next four or five minutes, police also removed the knife and used their knees to deliver multiple body strikes in order to get him handcuffed.

After several minutes, Umpherville said he could not breathe so officers checked to make sure nothing was obstructing his ability and he could still be heard yelling and seen struggling for another short period of time, lasting about four minutes.

He was moved from his right to left side and to his front as officers first cuffed his hands to the front then to his back while the ambulance arrived.

His physical condition deteriorated and by the time he was on the stretcher and almost to the ambulance, his breathing had become shallow. His heart stopped and was revived twice by EMS before arriving at the Victoria Hospital.

He was then taken to Saskatoon hospital the next day and stayed in a coma with no brain activity until he died on April 26.

The report suggested while some of the police interactions, such as how he was placed, may have contributed to his heart attack, the actions taken were reasonable given the situation, the level of danger to the officers and Umpherville’s continued resistance to being arrested.

SIRT investigations do not name the person harmed, witnesses or the arrestee but based on dates and circumstances and in speaking to family, paNOW can confirm the report is about Umpherville. The investigation used police and witness testimony, autopsy information and video footage from nearby buildings and the police cars and witnesses who posted it to social media.

Response from Prince Albert police

On Friday, the Prince Albert Police Service confirmed receipt of the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team’s report regarding the in-custody death of Boden Umpherville, and acknowledged a recommendation of no criminal charges.

“We will take the coming days to review the report in its entirety before making further comments publicly. We recognize the significant impact that Boden’s death has had on his family and friends and our thoughts remain with them during this difficult time,” they said in a statement.

Response from Umpherville’s family

Following the incident in Prince Albert, Umpherville’s adopted brother and close friend Chase Sinclair has been calling for answers. A number of “Justice for Boden” protests were also held. Sinclair told paNOW the report’s findings don’t match up with what he and the family were told.

“And it just seems like ‘here listen to this, it’s factual’ and it’s like at no point is our story factual and the people involved in the altercation, their points aren’t factual,” he said.

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

“Never once diving into the idea of could trauma stop the heart,” he said.

Noting the family was informed by email the report was complete, Sinclair, who has previously expressed concerns with respect to a lack of transparency, is further frustrated by the lack of opportunity to ask any follow up questions.

Going forward, he remains committed to advocating for systematic change.

“We can’t accept this”

—

susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social