The Abbotsford police officer who helped bring down the man accused of killing Const. John Davidson described to a jury how he used his cruiser to stop the suspect vehicle from fleeing.
The testimony came on Thursday during the murder trial of Oscar Arfmann, 67, who is accused of shooting Davidson twice from behind on Nov. 6, 2017.
Arfmann has pleaded not guilty to his charge of first-degree murder.
Const. Shawn Alton testified he purposefully rammed a black car he believed was the suspect vehicle with his own, hitting it twice before bringing it to a stop.
Alton told the court he could see the stock of a rifle inside the suspect vehicle, along with a man who appeared to be stunned.
When asked whether Arfmann was the suspect he saw that day, Alton said he was.
Other police officers quickly descended on the vehicle to give commands to the suspect, who Alton could see was suffering from some sort of injury.
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“It was chaos,” Alton told the court.
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“He was covered in blood. He had a large gash across his head, a cut to the front of the face.”
By the time he was stopped, the suspect had been shot by police, but Alton said he wasn’t aware of that.
After the man was brought out of the vehicle, Alton testified he removed folding pocket knives, bullets and a passport from the suspect’s pockets. The officer didn’t detect any intoxication.
Defence is building a case of mistaken identity, suggesting it wasn’t Arfmann but rather someone else who shot and killed Davidson.
Lawyer Frances Mahon asked Alton why he engaged in such a “dangerous” and “risky” maneuver to take down the suspect based on a generic description of an old man, driving a Mustang with Alberta plates.
Alton testified he was “110 per cent confident” in his actions, and that the vehicle he rammed was the suspect’s.
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“There was no guesswork in that,” he said.
On Monday, the court heard testimony from witness Larry Siefert, whose dashcam recorded video from the scene along with the audio of a 911 call Siefert made at the time of the shooting.
Dan Coles, counsel for the media, has made an application for a copy of some of that evidence, which has been played in open court.
Madam Justice Carol Ross is now considering when the appropriate time will be to hear the media’s application.
Siefert also testified he saw the suspect driving “really, really calmly up the road” from the scene of the shooting before he was stopped.
The court has already heard from several witnesses who have identified Arfmann at the scene of the shooting, though no one who has testified so far witnessed him pull the trigger.
The court has also already heard that Arfmann was arrested the day of the shooting in a stolen Mustang.
The trial is slated to last eight weeks and will hear from as many as 30 witnesses.
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