A coroner's inquest jury concluded Friday that Grant McLeod died of cocaine intoxication in a 2008 altercation with police in Whitehorse. (CBC) 

The death of a Whitehorse man in a 2008 altercation with police was an accident, a coroner's inquest jury concluded Friday afternoon.

The six-member inquest jury determined that Grant McLeod, 39, died as a result of cocaine intoxication on the morning of Aug. 30, 2008, while Whitehorse RCMP were trying to arrest him at the Chilkoot Trail Inn.

RCMP were called to the hotel after a clerk complained of a man staggering around with a hypodermic needle in his hand.

Officers who testified during the weeklong inquest said when they arrived at the hotel, they pursued McLeod upstairs, then called for backup when he resisted arrest.

A total of six offers struggled to control McLeod, who was described at the time as being large and being very strong.

Shortly after the struggle, McLeod went into medical distress. Paramedics testified that his pulse disappeared on the way to Whitehorse General Hospital, where he was declared dead a short time later.

McLeod had high amounts of cocaine in his system when he died, according to testimony Thursday from a toxicologist and a forensic pathologist.

The pathologist told the inquest that McLeod's altercation with the RCMP may have contributed to his death, but the main cause would still have been the cocaine overdose.

Coroner's inquests are required when a person dies while in police custody.

The inquest jury did not make any recommendations to the RCMP, but it did recommend that the Chilkoot Trail Inn install video cameras in all its hallways, stairwells, exits and entrances.

The recommendations are not binding.