Brandon Police Service held a media-only press conference Friday, offering new details and a forceful defence of officers’ actions during the June 12 arrest of 24-year-old Cassity Delvenne — nine days before she died in her Patricia Avenue apartment.
Chief Tyler Bates said the briefing was intended to “correct misinformation” circulating online after a 45-second video of Delvenne’s arrest was widely shared on social media. Delvenne’s mother believes excessive force used during the arrest may be connected to her daughter’s death and continues to call for greater transparency from police.
Bates said the short clip does not show what led up to the arrest, nor the roughly five-minute interaction captured on police dash-cam and other video.
“The truth matters and the details matter,” Bates told reporters, stressing that the publicly circulated footage represents only a portion of the encounter.
Officers were responding to a 911 call reporting a vehicle “swerving all over the road” and nearly causing a head-on collision. Police located Delvenne minutes later, allegedly impaired and attempting to walk away from the scene.
According to Bates, Delvenne resisted arrest, while her passenger interfered with officers, and the situation escalated into a physical struggle. Officers used soft-hand and hard-hand control techniques, but Bates said no weapons or intervention tools were used.
He also said the longer video evidence shows officers making repeated attempts to de-escalate the situation — details he said are absent from the short social-media clip.
Bates said the public video circulating on social feeds “captures but a small portion” of the encounter and argued that viewing the entire sequence is essential to understanding why officers responded as they did.
Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) has reviewed the arrest and determined it will not open an external investigation. Bates said BPS submitted all required materials, including photographs, dash-cam video and footage from Delvenne’s own phone, and that the IIU concluded the matter does not meet its mandate.
During the Q&A, Bates reiterated that BPS followed all required reporting procedures.
“We have fulfilled that due process,” Bates said, adding that the IIU “has responded that it is not within their mandate and that it is not in the public interest to investigate.”
He also confirmed the officers involved will not be suspended, citing the IIU’s decision and the full video evidence reviewed by investigators.
Delvenne died on June 21 after paramedics were called to her apartment and found her unresponsive. Bates emphasized that the impaired-driving arrest and Delvenne’s death are “separate and distinct incidents,” noting that the Chief Medical Examiner has found no bodily injury contributing to her death.
Toxicology results remain pending, and the cause of death is currently classified as undetermined.
Bates acknowledged the family’s grief and frustration, saying police will share more information once the medical examiner’s report is complete.
Community advocates have called for an outside agency to take over the death investigation, but Bates said no third-party transfer is currently underway.
