The Inside Story: Coroner’s investigations launched into 2 Toronto police officers’ suicides

A coroner’s investigation into the suicide of a Toronto police officer may end a mother’s five-month battle to see her dead son’s final words.

Const. Clint Cibulis hanged himself at his home in March at the age of 34, two days after he had been temporarily suspended for allegedly sending a harassing video to a female officer.

An investigation was launched into his death and a number of his personal possessions were taken by police, including Cibulis’ suicide note.

Citing privacy reasons, police say the letter was addressed to someone else and that “we don’t believe we have the authority to release it to Mrs. Cibulis.”

The coroner’s office issued a warrant to Toronto police to take custody of Clint’s suicide note, personal computer and cell phone.

“We have that documentation available to us and we could release it to the family,” Coroner Dr. James Edwards explained.

The investigation is expected to last eight months and would look into the Toronto police service handles issues of mental illness within the ranks.

“One of the things we would look at would be whether we could develop recommendations to prevent future deaths in measures short of an inquest,” said Edwards. “We’d review the file, we’d get records, we’d consult with people.”

The family of Const. Cibulis are not the only ones taking measures to try to stop this from happening again.

A coroners investigation has also been launched into the death of Sgt. Richard “Bucky” Rogers, who hanged himself in July.

Rogers’ family claims that before his suicide, the 24-year veteran of the force had tried for more than a year to get help but was ridiculed, bullied and humiliated by his supervisors.

In his suicide note, Rogers wrote harsh words for the Toronto Police Service.

The family has filed a request for a provincial inquiry into his death.

The deaths of these two officers has also prompted the chair of the Police Services Board to give police chief Bill Blair until Friday to provide a report on police suicides.

“If I reach the conclusion that there’s more that we could be doing it will be something I will be bringing to the board,” Alok Mukherjee told CityNews.

Meanwhile, Rogers’ widow Heidi said has also scheduled a meeting with Blair next month.