PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – An expert in police training says the officers who fired three shots into a suspect who lunged at them with a knife made the right choice.
Sgt. Russell Laidlaw told an inquiry into the death of Ryan Natomagan-Nelson that even though the two officers involved were carrying batons and pepper spray, using them could have ended up with the officers themselves being injured.
Const. Dwight Leblue testified earlier he fired after he and partner Const. Ryan Banadyga came face-to-face with Natomagan-Nelson in a basement bathroom after they’d been called to a report of an assault.
Leblue said Natomagan-Nelson charged at him, shouting, “do it!” before the pair opened fire.
Natomagan-Nelson, 27, later died in hospital.
In previous testimony, Natomagan-Nelson’s mother says she had taken her granddaughter out of the house shortly before the officers arrived because she heard fighting downstairs.
Mary Jane Natomagan said her son had been in an on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend, Jasmine Schellenberg, and that both struggled with alcoholism and addiction.
Witnesses said that on the day he died, he had chased her outside and punched her repeatedly.
Laidlaw, who was instrumental in writing the firearm guide and training people at the Saskatchewan Police College, explained to the inquiry that when officers make the decision to shoot, they are trained to shoot for their subject’s torso.
That’s because when officers face a situation that could cause “grievous bodily harm or death” to others or themselves, the intent is to eliminate the threat.
Sgt. Shawn Stubbs testified that a fingerprint analysis of the 15-centimetre-long knife came up empty, but he said knives of that type “commonly resist fingerprints.”
The six-person jury will provide their recommendations to prevent deaths of this nature in the future.
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