A report into a man’s death in the Downtown Eastside in August 2022 has found that Vancouver police officers did not use unnecessary, excessive or unreasonable force against the man.
On Aug. 22, 2022, a man, later identified as 42-year-old Chris Amyotte by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, was seen running naked on a street in the Downtown Eastside.
Amyotte is referred to as the AP or affected person in the document from the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIOBC), which investigates police-involved incidents in B.C.
The report states that bystanders called 911 to report the AP running around naked and said that he may have been pepper-sprayed as he was rubbing his face, then went into a convenience store, came out with a jug of milk and poured it over his face and head.
The witnesses told the IIO that they did not feel threatened by the AP, but several called 911 and flagged down two officers in an approaching vehicle.
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One of the witnesses said they could tell that the AP was “clearly in distress” and he was making sounds but not forming any words.
Responding officers told the IIO that they could see the AP was in distress and was perhaps “suffering from drug psychosis or ‘excited delirium’.”
Officers told the IIO that they instructed the AP “multiple times” to walk toward them and get down on the ground but the AP did not respond.
“None of the witness officers acknowledged having been told by civilian witnesses that the AP was suffering from the effects of pepper spray,” the report reads.
The ‘subject officer’, or the one who discharged seven rounds from a beanbag shotgun, told the IIO that the call was for a “naked male that was running into traffic” and when he arrived, the AP’s actions led him to believe that he should arrest him for indecent act, causing a disturbance and being intoxicated in a public place, on top of suspecting him of having just committed a theft.
The officer went toward the AP, shouting at him, then fired two rounds from his beanbag shotgun at the AP’s buttocks in what he said was an attempt to “de-escalate a dangerous situation.”
The AP did not get on the ground, so the officer continued to fire beanbags at the AP as he continued to walk away, until he went down onto the sidewalk, according to the report.
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“Six witness officers brought him under control on the ground, applying pressure to various parts of his body as he struggled against them, and placed him in handcuffs,” the report states.
“None of the witness officers struck the AP during the arrest. Very soon afterwards, the AP experienced medical distress and became unresponsive. Police administered Narcan spray, which was ineffective, and then commenced other lifesaving attempts.”
The AP was declared deceased at the scene.
Courts have ruled that police use of force cannot be judged in hindsight against a standard of perfection and police actions are not criminal simply because one permissible option was chosen over another, the IIO report reads.
“In most cases, the use of beanbags against the back or buttocks of a subject, and a brief struggle by officers to restrain and handcuff the person on the ground, would not be expected to cause either serious injury or death.
“Considering these factors, and on the evidence as a whole, it cannot be said that the officers used force against the AP that was unnecessary, excessive or unreasonable to an extent that would amount to a criminal assault or manslaughter.”
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