It was an emotional first day Monday at the inquest into the death of Stanley Robillard, the 46-year-old Prince Albert man who died in Saskatoon police custody in 2010.
Robillard's son came to the inquest with a picture of his father and family members sobbed as they watched video of Robillard's last moments alive.
"The details are uncomfortable for me to hear,” said Linda McNabb, Robillard’s sister.
Police say Robillard was intoxicated outside the Toon Town Tavern on the night of July 15, 2010. They say witnesses saw him fall three times, hitting his head on the ground.
Police and paramedics brought Robillard to St. Paul's Hospital where he refused to be treated. He was taken to police headquarters and lodged in a cell where he died the following morning.
"I feel very sad about the circumstances surrounding his passing,” McNabb said. “They don't reflect the proud man he was."
The medical examiner hasn't taken the stand yet, but at the time police said autopsy results showed Robillard died from an accidental head injury that he received before he was taken into custody.
The family wants to make sure that police and health officials handled Robillard properly.
"I don't want his death to be senseless,” McNabb said. “I want to make sure nobody else has to go through the grief that we did with his passing"
The inquest is scheduled to run until friday. An inquest is not a criminal trial or civil suit and its purpose is not to lay blame but to come up with recommendations on how to avoid similar deaths in the future.
