He was, police have now admitted, physically abused by officers once inside the Prince George detachment. That abuse, the RCMP now acknowledges, went unaddressed due to problems with internal investigations and co-operation with external investigations over the years.
However, none of the reports into the incident - the most recent being last week s Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP probe of the incident - ties Willey s death to the conduct of police.
The civil law suit now underway by the Willey family seeks to connect the two.
The RCMP s legal position denies all of the allegations suggesting Willey s death was: a result of their use of conducted energy weapons (CEWs or Tasers) on him; the pulling and dragging of his restrained body through parts of the detachment, including a fall out of the arrest vehicle; the use of a hog-tie leg restraint device; or any other action on their part.