Appeal court dismisses case of mother seeking SGI benefits for son's death after violent arrest

Chris Edwards · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 09, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

The parent of a Prince Albert antheral who died aft a convulsive apprehension with constabulary has mislaid her entreaty to person decease benefits from Saskatchewan Government Insurance.

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal dismissed Verna Umpherville's lawsuit connected June 27, ruling that her son's decease did not entitle her to no-fault benefits nether the Automobile Accident Insurance Act (AAIA).

Verna's son, Boden Umpherville, died of cardiac apprehension aft sustaining respective injuries erstwhile Prince Albert constabulary arrested him successful April 2023.

The bulk of Boden's injuries, caused by constabulary batons and tasers, happened erstwhile helium was wrong a stationary vehicle. During the arrest, Boden moved into the driver's spot and shifted the conveyance into gear, lurching it guardant into a constabulary car, which sustained insignificant damage.

The 40-year-old remained connected beingness enactment for respective weeks earlier helium died connected April 26.

"Collectively we're shocked," said Chase Sinclair, a spokesperson for the family. "There are 2 sides to the communicative and the communicative is blown mode retired of proportionality by the media and past blown mode retired of proportionality by the police."

After an probe into the arrest, the Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), the province's constabulary oversight agency, stated that the officers' usage of unit was justified successful airy of Boden's resistance. It recovered that Boden had died arsenic a effect of cardiac apprehension and cocaine intoxication.

According to the autopsy, it's imaginable that the stun guns utilized by constabulary officers could person played a relation successful his death, but that was unlikely.

WATCH | From 2023: Family privation answers from Prince Albert police: 

The information that her lad was successful the driver's spot of a conveyance during the apprehension was cardinal to Verna Umpherville's statement for no-fault decease benefits, which are provided for injuries that originate retired of an mishap caused by a centrifugal vehicle. Her ineligible squad argued that Boden's decease was applicable nether Part VIII of the Automobile Accident Insurance Act.

SGI rejected those claims, stating that successful airy of the autopsy, "Boden's cardiac apprehension and consequent coma is unrelated to the centrifugal conveyance accident."

Verna appealed SGI's determination to the Automobile Insurance Appeal Commission, which ruled successful favour of SGI.

"The intent of the legislative scheme," said the Commission successful the ruling astir the AAIA, is to supply "a wide scope for nary responsibility benefits but limits their availability to injuries that are genuinely caused by the use of a centrifugal conveyance arsenic opposed to those having a much distant connection."

Verna past appealed the commission's determination astatine the Court of Appeal. It dismissed the entreaty connected June 27.

Sinclair said the process of gathering documents and interacting with constabulary officials implicit the past 2 years has been hard and frustrating. Boden's Indigenous identity, helium said, made the process much difficult.

"I anticipation that this changes for the adjacent idiosyncratic that gets killed. That there's a wide pathway to a solution-based happening for Indigenous people, that there's a wide pathway to clasp radical accountable," Sinclair said.

Sinclair said Verna's ineligible squad is present weighing their options for adjacent steps, and has not ruled retired appealing up to the Supreme Court.