uvic student contradicts campus security evidence at coroner's inquest
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three students who witnessed an overdose death in a university of victoria dorm disagreed with the version of events previously provided by campus security officers, they said in testimony at a coroner’s inquest tuesday.
a campus security officer who responded to two students who overdosed in a residence in january 2024 told an external review conducted for uvic that “there were a total of 20 to 30 people in the hallway, which he had to push past.”
there was “definitely not” a crowd in the hallway, witness amirah ali testified on day 2 of the inquest investigating the death of first-year student sidney mcintyre-starko, 18.
“not in the hallway, not in the room. they didn’t have to push past anyone.”
campus security also told the external review, written by retired abbotsford police chief bob rich, that “these onlookers continued to mill around, press in and make noise … the students in the hallway were not quiet. that interference and noise made it more difficult to hear if sidney was breathing.”
in calm, mature testimony, ali contradicted that account, saying there were two or so students in the hall, and a handful in the residence room, but no one was talking loudly.
“i wouldn’t say it was loud. there was nobody making noise,” she said. “seeing as there were no onlookers, there was no one milling around.”
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one of the issues to be examined at this inquest is the adequacy of the medical response by uvic campus security officers, who will testify later in the inquest.
when sidney and a second student collapsed on jan. 23, 2024, witnesses immediately called 911 and campus security for help. but the first-year student died after not receiving the overdose-reversing drug naloxone for 13 minutes or cpr for 15 minutes, largely because the students’ overdoses were mistaken for seizures.
a security guard told rich that they didn’t witness sidney or the second patient turning blue, and noted “the lighting in room 308 was dim.” but a second student witness, kyra herriott, disagreed.
she insisted fluorescent lights illuminated 308, the room where sidney had collapsed: “it was bright and all the lights were on in the hallway and in the room.”
herriott said she could tell the patients were turning blue, even through her pink-tinted eye glasses that display everything in warmer tones to offset migraines.
“by the time campus security got there they were blue,” she said.
a third student witness who testified, andrea mcdermid, knelt by sidney after she collapsed and stayed with her until campus security arrived. she said sidney’s breathing was at first faint and shallow.
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“i noticed she was very pale and slowly sort of turning blue. her breath was very shallow. i could barely tell if she was breathing, really. it was very faint,” mcdermid said.
she didn’t raise her concern with campus security after they arrived, she said, because she viewed them as the professionals who would know what to do.
it was ali, who lived on the same residence floor where the overdoses happened, who phoned campus security, which students had been informed to do during an emergency.
“what we were told was they were highly trained and the first point of contact,” she said.
ali testified she didn’t know sidney and the second patient had been exposed to toxic drugs. she initially thought they were having seizures, but began to wonder if they could be overdosing when their conditions deteriorated.
“not until i saw them turning blue and (the second patient) was foaming at the mouth,” ali said.
under questioning from justin giovannetti, a lawyer representing sidney’s family, she agreed the security guard’s statements didn’t align with her memory of what happened. ali, now a second-year student at uvic, added she wouldn’t call campus security again during an emergency.
when she testified that she believed the security officers didn’t respond adequately, uvic lawyer kevin smith asked how she could draw that conclusion when she might not know the exact details of their training.
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ali said it was based on her knowledge that giving the overdose-reversing drug naloxone to someone, even if they aren’t overdosing, won’t harm them.
“if they were trained in naloxone, then they were, i assume, aware that naloxone has no negative effects if given to someone without an overdose. that’s where i would say they acted wrong,” she said.
both ali and herriott said no one from uvic interviewed them after the overdoses to find out what happened, until they spoke with rich earlier this year.
ali missed a call from the police department, which didn’t leave a message and she tried unsuccessfully to find the officer who called her.
she spoke with rich, who uvic hired to conduct an external review of the case, but it was sidney’s parents — not uvic — who put her in touch with him, she said.
“bob rich was the only person who reached out to me about what happened,” she said.
it was an emotional day for sidney’s family, who listened to the student witnesses describe how they did their best to help the unconscious teen.
“we are hugely grateful to the students who responded to sidney. by calling for help immediately they gave sidney the best chance she had for survival,” sidney’s mother, emergency physician dr. caroline mcintyre, said after the inquest ended for the day.
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“from that point forward, it was up to campus security and the 911 call taker.”
the presiding coroner, larry marzinzik, explained that 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 isn’t being ignored. it doesn’t 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 sidneyshoudbehere 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.
twelve lawyers are representing various agencies at the inquest, including uvic, the ambulance service and the ministries of health and post-secondary education.
the inquest is scheduled for three weeks, with 33 witnesses scheduled to testify.
you can follow ongoing coverage of the inquest here:
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