Inquest underway into deaths of two men while in police custody

A coroner's inquest looking into the death of two men while they were in police custody got underway Friday. CTV's Nick Paparella has more.

After a delay earlier this week, the inquest looking into the unrelated deaths of Fabian Hart and Christopher Campbell got underway via Zoom.

The proceedings heard that both men were in the custody of the London Police Service after being arrested.

The 55-year-old Campbell had been seen driving erratically in south London on October 11, 2018, and ended up in a ditch before officers arrived.

Arrested for impaired driving at the time, Campbell was placed in the backseat of a cruiser and started snoring while being driven downtown.

Eventually, he stopped breathing once at police headquarters. Despite officers performing CPR, he would be rushed to hospital and pronounced dead.

The Coroner’s Inquest got underway with a statement from Campbell’s one-time partner who said, “Chris was a big man with an even bigger personality...I miss you; we miss you.”

Inquest counsel Indira Stewart told the proceedings a toxicologist is expected to testify in the coming days, “I anticipate that you will hear that fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and ethanol were found in Mr. Campbell’s blood and urine.”

In a separate incident about three years later, on Feb. 1, 2021, the 34-year-old Hart was arrested at his former partner’s apartment. He was booked and placed in a cell downtown.

Stewart told the five-member jury, “I expect you’ll hear that when asked if he had consumed any drugs or alcohol that day, Mr. Hart responded that he had consumed three shots of vodka that morning.”

She added, “Mr. Hart responded that he was an alcoholic and noted that he would start going into withdrawal.”

Hart was detained for about 16 hours and Stewart said before he died, “Mr. Hart was concerned that his withdrawal might cause a seizure.”

He eventually became unresponsive and was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The main aim of the inquest is to inform the public and prevent further similar deaths.

The hearing is slated to last 14 days with about 20 witness giving evidence.