'He was on the verge of overdosing. And it just got overlooked,' says brother of man who died in custody

The brother of a man who died two years ago in Saskatoon police custody still believes officers should have recognized that Michael Ryan was not just high on methamphetamine and cocaine.

Ryan died on Feb. 26, 2016, hours after police arrested him while he was wandering in and out of traffic on a busy thoroughfare. A forensic pathologist concluded that Ryan died of an overdose.

Officers believed that he was high on drugs, but not in medical distress.

A coroner's inquest into his death began Monday at Saskatoon's Court of Queen's Bench.

Cheney Ryan has watched the in-car video of his brother after officers wrestled him into the back of a cruiser. Michael Ryan was wild-eyed, sweating and agitated in the video, played at the inquest.

"Looking at what I looked at, that wasn't my brother. Absolutely not," he said in interview with CBC News Thursday.

"To me it looked like he was on the verge of overdosing. And it just got overlooked."

Much has changed since that winter day. Saskatoon police now have paramedics in the detention cells around the clock, a policy change that came about because of Ryan's death.

It's cold comfort to his brother.

"They have staffing on, they have a better way to take care of this meth epidemic, or drug epidemic that you may be experiencing in your city now, as a smaller city that was ill-prepared is prepared now," he said.

"But it still doesn't change that fateful day."

Cheney Ryan still takes issue with how police handled his brother. He doesn't believe that he was resisting arrest or that he was read his rights.

He is also disappointed with the inquest process. He says the family had little time to prepare because they were only allowed to see the video, and read reports, when the inquest began earlier this week.

"There's a lot of information that we were just given at the start of the inquest. We never had a chance to review most of the witnesses," he said.

Forensic pathologist Shaun Ladham, who began testifying Wednesday, did the autopsy and concluded that Michael Ryan died of a methamphetamine overdose.

Ladham continued his testimony Thursday. He is the last of 12 witnesses at the inquiry.

The inquest jurors are expected to begin drafting their recommendations shortly.