we 'did the best we could': second uvic security guard testifies about evening student died
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one of the two university of victoria security guards who attended to the overdose of a student broke down in tears as he testified at a coroner’s inquest thursday.
“i’m a father myself,” benjamin watson said.
“my oldest is 16. i couldn’t imagine what you guys are going through as (sidney’s) family and friends.”
sidney mcintyre-starko, 18, and a second student collapsed from toxic drug poisoning in a uvic dorm on jan. 23, 2024. student witnesses immediately called 911 and campus security for help, but sidney died of oxygen deprivation after not receiving the overdose-reversing drug naloxone for 13 minutes or cpr for 15 minutes.
after watson finished answering lawyers’ questions, he made the unusual request to address the room and then said sorry to sidney’s family.
“i and (my partner) were 100 per cent trying to assess the situation as best as we can … we actually did the best we could,” he said.
“i hope, in the end, this (inquest) gives some change…. i hope that there is more advocacy that these drugs are worse than they’ve ever been, and it’s taking out our loved ones.”
the student witness who phoned campus dispatch that night described sidney and the second patient as “seizing.” as he responded to the emergency call, watson thought the report of two people having seizures was odd.
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“it didn’t make any sense to me that people would be seizing together. one of the things that actually crossed my mind was: is this a drug overdose?”
watson said he asked the student witnesses if the patients had taken drugs, but none said they were aware of any drug use. the only student who knew what happened was on the phone with 911, and she had not told the call-taker about the drugs.
both watson and his partner said they asked the student about drugs while she was on the 911 call, but the presiding coroner would not allow a request by sidney’s family’s lawyer to play the recording to confirm when in the emergency the student was asked.
a lawyer asked watson why he didn’t administer naloxone anyway. medical experts say it cannot harm someone even if they are not overdosing.
“with our training, we don’t give naloxone unless we know that there is a drug overdose,” watson said.
“hearing that there was no drugs, the idea of giving some naloxone just didn’t make any sense to do at that time.”
watson couldn’t detect a pulse on sidney, and thought perhaps his own racing heart beat was blocking his ability to feel it. he then thought he detected “short, shallow breaths” coming from sidney’s mouth, and concluded she was breathing.
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a short time later, the 911 operator asked him to perform a breathing test by counting how many times sidney took a breath. at that point, watson testified he could no longer detect “good breaths” coming from the first-year student.
“they got really shallow, and i was trying to relate to the 911 operator that i’m not getting good breaths,” he testified.
his security partner nikolas murphy, who testified wednesday, then offered to switch places, and said he did believe sidney was breathing.
watson said he considered murphy to have better first aid training.
“so when he offered to switch, i thought that was the best course of action for sidney,” he said.
“i felt pretty overwhelmed as a security guard who’s not like a medical professional. i felt pretty overwhelmed going to what turned out to be a double od.”
an external review of the incident written by retired police chief bob rich said a test done by a paramedic — a short time after murphy said he detected breaths — found sidney may not have been breathing for up to 17 minutes.
presiding coroner larry marzinzik asked watson what he would do in a general situation in which he had a patient with no pulse or breathing, and had no one nearby to give him advice or assistance. “chest compressions,” he said.
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sidney’s mother, emergency room physician dr. caroline mcintyre, testified monday that rescue breathing or chest compressions can keep an overdosing patient alive until first responders arrive.
watson testified that uvic has made campus security changes since the tragedy more than 15 months ago, including new training for how to use oxygen masks and improved first aid. however, watson hasn’t received the first aid upgrades yet.
uvic security guard nathaniel blondeau, who worked in dispatch that evening, answered the call from a student who phoned to report sidney and the other patient were “turning blue.” that’s typically a sign that patients are struggling to breathe, but that information was not passed along to watson or murphy.
blondeau testified he didn’t recall hearing that the students were turning blue, and if he had he “potentially” would have passed that along to the responding guards.
“they could also see for themselves when they get on scene. it’s pretty obvious when someone turns blue,” he said.
both watson and murphy have testified the students’ skin did not appear blue to them, although a half dozen students have described them as turning a blue-purple colour.
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the inquest will determine facts related to the death, to make recommendations that may prevent similar deaths in the future, and to satisfy the community that the death is not being ignored. it does not determine blame for the death.
sidney’s death has led to better access to naloxone and other harm reduction measures on campuses, and promises to improve first aid policies. sidney’s parents have lobbied for these improvements through their campaign, and hope the inquest will lead to changes in b.c.’s 911 system, to avoid a similar preventable death from happening in the future.
the inquest is scheduled for three weeks, with 33 witnesses scheduled. twelve lawyers are representing various agencies, including uvic, the ambulance service and the ministries of health and post-secondary education.
you can follow ongoing coverage of the inquest here:
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