In sometimes emotional testimony at a coroner’s inquest, Angela Spencer described her son Paul as “very friendly” and well-liked by their neighbours. She wants to know why he died after an altercation in hospital.
The inquest into the Sept. 27, 2019 death of 43-year-old Paul Richard Nathan Spencer began Monday at the Victoria courthouse, with testimony from his mother, a police officer and a doctor.
Richard Neary, counsel for Angela Spencer, said outside the inquest that she told him that about 2 a.m. on Sept. 27 she had called the police because her son had left home and she was worried about him.
Paul Spencer, who was on medication for a psychotic disorder, had been having delusions, Neary said.
Saanich police Const. Shauntelle Nichols, who had been provided with Paul Spencer’s cellphone number, managed to contact him and convince him to go to the hospital. She found him at a bus stop near the hospital and took him there for treatment. She told the inquest she knew he was having mental-health issues.
“He was in a state that he was paranoid and scared,” she testified.
He had some belongings with him in a plastic bag, Nichols said, including two framed pictures of his mother. She said he told her he always had them with him because he loved her.
Neary said the initial medical records that Angela Spencer received indicated her son was co-operative when he got to the hospital, and he had been cooperative about going there with Nichols.
“Something happened later, revealed in the medical records that she received through the Freedom of Information Act, indicating that there was clearly an altercation around 5:30 a.m.,” Neary said. “So he’d been there around three-and-a-half hours, had slept some of that time.
At one point, Paul Spencer approached a door to try to exit, although he’d been assessed as not allowed to leave, Neary said.
“It escalated into a physical confrontation with security guards.”
Neary said a code blue was issued about 5:45 a.m. and Paul Spencer was declared dead soon after.
Angela Spencer said she was called about 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 27 and told her son had died.
“I screamed my head off,” she said. “I can’t believe that happened to my son while under my care in a community that I love.
“I kissed him goodbye and that was it.”
She said she needs to know more about what happened to him and why, and first requested an inquest in 2020.
Dr. Brook Alder Nero, Paul Spencer’s family doctor, said Spencer didn’t present as a typical psychotic patient.
He was “a nice guy” and generally stable, but had a few episodes over the years where he had to be hospitalized for treatment.
There were delusions at times, the doctor said, and a belief that he could talk to the government and to God.
The inquest, with coroner Kirsten Everett, is expected to continue through Friday.
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