(Montreal) A coroner concludes that the death of a 16-year-old Cree teenager, in Nord-du-Québec, a year ago, could have been avoided if the police had spent more than 10 minutes trying to find her .
Neebin Icebound died of hypothermia on October 9, 2022 in the Cree community of Waswanipi, approximately 120 km northeast of Lebel-sur-Quévillon.
Coroner Karine Spénard states in her report that police received a report shortly before 4:30 a.m. that night regarding a semi-naked woman lying near an elementary school.
Me Spénard finds it surprising that the police’s search to find the teenager subsequently lasted only 10 minutes. She also believes that the Eeyou Eenou Police Department and the Sûreté du Québec, as well as the Police Ethics Commissioner, should examine the way in which the police reacted that night.
The coroner emphasizes in his report that the Directorate of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions decided not to lay charges against the police officers.
Young Neebin Icebound was finally found by passers-by two hours later, around 6:30 a.m., about 200 meters from where the police had looked for her. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital by a doctor at 8:15 a.m.
Coroner Spénard indicates in her report that the teenager was drinking that night with friends, who abandoned her when she fell into a soaking ditch, in an advanced state of intoxication. The temperature hovered around zero degrees in Waswanipi that night, the coroner points out in her report.