The fatal police shooting of 36-year-old Anthony Divers has been ruled a homicide by a coroner’s jury.
After six days of examination and several hours of deliberation, the verdict was read out Wednesday night at the John Sopinka Courthouse in front of the five-member jury and Divers’ family.
The decision means a majority of the jury members found Divers’ death was caused by another person who knew their actions could be fatal.
However, since an inquest is not a criminal trial, none of those involved in Divers’ death will face any criminal charges.
Lawyers representing Hamilton police argued that the manner of Divers’ death suggested it was a suicide.
The 36-year-old died in hospital less than an hour after he was shot by police near Hamilton GO Centre just before midnight on Sept. 30, 2016.
A decision by Special Investigations Unit director Tony Loparco said the shot fired by a Hamilton police officer was justified in preserving oneself from harm based on Canada’s Criminal Code.
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The incident narrative said that on the night of the shooting, a woman called police around 11:35 p.m. to report she had been assaulted outside a bar.
Loparco’s report said a “serious injury to her left cheek” was “reasonable grounds” for police to arrest Divers on suspicion of assault.
A police officer was eventually able to track down Divers around 11:45 p.m. at a bus shelter, according to the report.
Upon arrival, the report states Divers left that location and began to “walk briskly” on James Street South while the officer followed, yelling “stop” and “get down.”
According to the report, Divers ignored the officer’s instructions, and the officer drew his weapon as Divers put his right hand under his sweatshirt and continued to walk away.
After a number of commands to “show his hands,” the report states Divers faced the officer, lifted his hand from under his sweater and approached the officer.
The report also revealed the officer considered using a Taser on Divers but opted for his revolver because he believed that “tenting” in the front of Divers’ sweater would have rendered the Taser ineffective.
Divers was shot twice by police.
As a result of the inquest, the jury came back with 13 recommendations directed at the Ontario Police College, Hamilton Police Service and Ontario’s solicitor general and five recommendations for the Ministry of Health, including the suggestion of putting more money towards “psycho-educational” testing of at-risk youth.
In the recommendations to police, the jury proposed changes to how officers communicate with people in crisis and specifically nixing the use of phrases like “or else” in exchange for less confrontational wording like “we don’t want to hurt you.”
In addition, the jury favoured additional training for police in matters related to “stress response” and delaying engagement of a suspect.
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