More than 10 years after he was shot by an Edmonton police officer, Kirk Steele is renewing a legal effort to have the officer who pulled the trigger disciplined.
On Wednesday, Steele’s lawyer was back at Alberta’s Law Enforcement Review Board to seek a new hearing in connection with the shooting of his client.
“You have to follow it to the end if your position is that the decision was wrong,” lawyer Tom Engel said. “Then you have to take whatever means you can to have that addressed, so that’s why we are here.”
Steele was shot by an Edmonton police officer when he tried to flee from four officers after stabbing a police dog named Wizzard in July 2006.
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Wizzard’s partner, Sgt. Bruce Edwards, fired seven shots at Steele, four of which struck him.
He ended up on life support and without a kidney but did survive. Since then, there has been a criminal trial, an internal police disciplinary hearing as well as several reviews.
A criminal trial in 2010 found Steele guilty of being unlawfully at large although the judge said Edwards’ actions amounted to an “unconscionable use of excessive and aggressive force.”
However, criminal charges against Edwards were stayed and the officer was cleared of any wrongdoing in an internal police hearing in 2012. A subsequent review upheld that decision.
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On Wednesday, Engel said the presiding officer in the internal review made errors and was biased.
Mona Duckett, who represents Sgt. Edwards, said “this was not a conspiracy” in reference to the original hearing and argued the original decision was fair and should be upheld.
The Law Enforcement Review Board has accepted Engel’s submissions and over the next few months, is expected to decide whether a new hearing will be held.
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Wizzard survived his stab wounds and retired in 2007.
-With files from Kent Morrison.
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