BRAMPTON, Ontario — A 30-year-old Tamil man from Jaffna has died in this Toronto-area city under circumstances that have drawn allegations of police negligence and calls for an independent investigation from within the Tamil community in Canada and Sri Lanka.
The man, Robert Kennedy, a native of Palaly in Jaffna and an alumnus of St. Patrick’s College, collapsed on a street in Brampton on April 13, according to family members and community sources familiar with the case. He was taken to hospital, where he was found to have suffered a brain hemorrhage, and died after being admitted to an intensive care unit.
Those accounts allege that officers with the Peel Regional Police, who were the first to reach Mr. Kennedy after he fell ill, initially treated him as though he were intoxicated. Officers issued him a ticket before summoning an ambulance and did not administer first aid at the scene, according to the same accounts.
Community members said the officers’ initial assessment may have contributed to a delay in the provision of emergency medical care after Mr. Kennedy arrived at the hospital. Subsequent medical findings, relayed to the family, indicated that there was no alcohol in his system.
The sequence of events described by family members and community sources could not be independently verified. The Peel Regional Police have not publicly addressed the allegations, and Canadian authorities have issued no detailed account of the response.
Before his death, Mr. Kennedy had consented to organ donation, and six recipients are said to have benefited, according to people close to the family.
His death has resonated across Tamil networks in Canada and Sri Lanka, where friends, former classmates and civic figures have called for a transparent investigation into the actions of the responding officers.
The case has also been complicated by Mr. Kennedy’s immigration status. He had obtained Canadian citizenship only weeks earlier and had not yet been issued a passport, people familiar with the matter said, raising legal and administrative hurdles in repatriating his body to Sri Lanka or facilitating travel to Canada for relatives.
Mr. Kennedy’s body remains in Brampton, those close to the family said, as discussions continue over next steps.
