Manslaughter charge in death of off-duty officer

A manslaughter charge has been laid following an investigation into the death of an off-duty police constable from Abbotsford, B.C.

Fifty-five-year-old Const. Allan Young died in July last year, several days after an altercation with another man while Young was visiting Nelson, B.C.

Alex Willness, a 26-year-old Castlegar resident, made his first appearance on the manslaughter charge last week and is scheduled to appear in a Nelson courtroom on Tuesday.

A statement from the Nelson Police Department says Willness remains in custody.

Young was placed on life support and died on July 22, almost a week after he was injured.

He moved to Canada from Scotland in 1997 and spent four years with the Toronto Police Service before joining Abbotsford police in 2004, where colleagues remembered him as someone with a "spark for life," who loved to share stories and advice.