Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has ruled Ottawa police were not responsible for the death of Stephane Michaud 43, who died in police custody at Ottawa International Airport on June 5, 2005.

Mr. Michaud, a passenger on an Air Canada flight from Halifax to Ottawa, was taken into police custody after his shouting and screaming in the arrivals area prompted airport staff to try to subdue him. There was no apparent reason for the shouting and screaming.

When police handcuffed him, he suddenly went into "medical distress."

Paramedics tried several times to revive him before he was taken to the Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus, where he was pronounced dead.

SIU spokeswoman Rose Bliss said an autopsy was not able to determine the cause of Mr. Michaud's death. The Ontario coroner's office has called an inquest into the death.