A lengthy investigation has cleared police after the arrest of a suspect allegedly involved in a home invasion and who also shot at RCMP while trying to flee “at all costs.”
On Thursday, the Independent Investigations Office of BC published its report on the incident near Falkland on Dec. 3, 2019.
The eight-page report, available online, details the arrest, which also involved a police chase, gunfire and the suspect eventually giving himself up in a field near a school.
It all started on Dec. 2, when RCMP were alerted to an armed home invasion where firearms were stolen.
The report said there was “a police pursuit in which the vehicle the suspect was driving struck two police vehicles and evaded apprehension,” adding it’s thought the suspect was in possession of a pistol, rifles and a shotgun.
“One of the officers involved in that incident described the suspect as displaying a total disregard for the safety of others and intent on escape regardless of the consequences.”
The next day, police received a complaint that two individuals appeared to be stealing fuel at a gas station in Falkland. The vehicle, a Ford Fusion, was identified as the same one involved the previous day.
Roadblocks were set up along Highway 97, east and west of Falkland.
The Ford was seen leaving Falkland heading east, but then turned back westbound.
“The suspect was able to pass through or around the second roadblock, despite spike belts being deployed and continued westward,” said the report.
“Police vehicles pursued and officers later told the IIO that the suspect appeared to be trying to stop civilian vehicles on the highway by swerving into their paths, as if attempting a carjacking.”
The report continued, saying “the suspect escalated the situation dramatically by pointing a long-barrelled firearm out through the driver’s window of the Fusion and firing it, at least twice, back in the direction of the police vehicle behind him.
“An officer returned fire with a semi-automatic rifle through the windshield of the police vehicle.”
The pursuit continued for around 15 kilometres, with the suspect having driven over several spike belts. With the car’s tires disintegrating, the suspect took the vehicle off-road, onto a large, flat field.
“The pursuing officers took this as a sign that the suspect was either going to surrender or was intending to stand and fight,” said the report.
Near the field was a church and an elementary school with children present.
“Police, including members of the Emergency Response Team, took up positions behind police vehicles in the field and on the highway,” said the report.
The IIO said the suspect told investigators that he intended to get out of the car and surrender, “but was reluctant to do so because he was scared he would be shot at.”
The report noted that one officer did shoot at the Ford with a police carbine, and that “other officers described seeing bullets striking and ricocheting off the back of the car.”
After a short time, the woman exited the car, running a short distance and then laying down on the ground.
A little while later, the suspect also exited. However, “he initially held his hands up, but then began acting in a mocking manner, pretending to reach to his waist as if provoking police to shoot him.”
One officer said he kept taking his hands down and kind of reached toward his waistband.
“In my mind, I thought he wanted us to shoot him, forcing it on us, making us believe he had a gun in his waistband, he wanted us to shoot him.”
Eventually, the suspect laid down, with police then throwing a ‘flash-bang’ device at him. A police dog was released to restrain him, with the suspect being handcuffed and taken to a police vehicle.
But how he was arrested varied, with the suspect saying he was roughed up with excessive force, though police and witnesses said it was quick.
“I don’t know if it was two or three officers, but they jumped on my back and were putting extreme pressure on it, making it hard to breathe,” the suspect told the IIO.
He continued, saying “at least one cop was punching me, trying to hit me in the face and head. And I tried to put my arms up to block the punches, but they were holding my arms and I couldn’t block any of the punches. So I laid there and let them punch me.”
However, three officers told the IIO the arrest was short, with one stating “I didn’t even recognize there was a struggle from where I was standing. It seemed to go peacefully.”
The report said several civilians recorded cellphone video of parts of the incident, but not of the actual arrest. However, one video showed prior to the arrest that the suspect walked towards police initially with his hands up, but then dropped them and raised them again.
The suspect told the IIO that since the arrest, he had “noticed a lot of changes in terms of chemical imbalances that are a result of head trauma,” but also noted that he had suffered long-term brain damage from a head injury in 2002 and a concussion after being hit by a car in 2014.
In determining that no charges be recommended against police, the IIO noted that the suspect was a man with a significant criminal record, and was believed to have committed a very serious violent crime the day before his arrest, and to be in possession of firearms.
The IIO also said the suspect used his vehicle as a weapon after the robbery, striking police vehicles in order to escape and that he fired a rifle or a shotgun at officers during a wild pursuit along Highway 97.
“He had driven through attempted roadblocks, including driving over spike belts that destroyed his vehicle’s tires, clearly determined to escape at all cost,” said the report.
It also mentioned that he only stopped when his vehicle couldn’t operate any longer and that he refused to obey commands to exit his vehicle at first.
Briefly, it said all of those elements made it reasonable for police to conclude that using a police dog and limited strikes to ensure his arrest.
“Those uses of force, in the circumstances,” said the IIO, “were within the range of what was legally justifiable.”
Comments