Baby dead after being delivered via emergency C-section to woman who was in police custody

A newborn is dead after being delivered via emergency C-section to a woman in police custody. 

According to Alberta’s police watchdog, which is investigating the incident, the woman being held in Lloydminster was sent to hospital around 12:40 a.m. on May 13 because it appeared she was having a seizure. 

When doctors realized she was pregnant, they delivered the baby via emergency C-section. 

The infant died a few hours later. 

ASIRT, or the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, is investigating Mounties’ conduct while the woman was in custody. 

She was arrested by Kitscoty RCMP members the evening of May 9 and taken to Lloydminster. 

After a release hearing, during which it was decided she would stay in custody until a court date, a “physical altercation occurred between the woman and a Lloydminster RCMP officer,” ASIRT said in a Friday news release. 

“The woman returned to a cell without further incident.” 

Two days later, Mounties provided the woman with medication prescribed by Alberta’s virtual opioid dependency program three times: around 2 p.m., 5 p.m., and just before 10 p.m., less than three hours before she was found seizing. 

Neither an update on the woman’s condition, nor more details about the age and health of the infant, were provided. 

ASIRT investigates complaints of police conduct resulting in serious injury or death.