A man who died from an overdose of drugs while in police cells would likely have died even if police had followed proper procedure, a coroner has found.
Francisco Javier de Laratea Soler, 42, died at the Whakatane police station on December 19, 2008. He was picked up heavily intoxicated after earlier being involved in two disputes.
A police investigation found 10 mistakes were made in assessing the risk for the prisoner and monitoring him. However, Rotorua Coroner Dr Wallace Bain, who heard an inquest into the Spanish national's death, has found Mr Soler would probably have died even if police had followed proper procedures and practices, given the combination of drugs and alcohol in his system.
In his finding, released to The Daily Post, Dr Bain found Mr Soler, a father of children now 10 and 12, died from severe pulmonary congestion and oedema as a result of overdosing on methadone. A post mortem found fatal levels of the drug in his system combined with alcohol, cannabis and Zopiclone - all of which resulted in his death.
Mr Soler was found to have 177mg of alcohol in his system, making him more than twice the legal limit to drive. The level of methadone was 0.6mg per litre of blood - within a fatal range.