Security video and audio from a 911 call have been released in a coroners inquest into the 2015 death of Hudson Brooks during a confrontation with Surrey RCMP.
The 20-year-old was fatally shot outside the Surrey RCMP detachment on 152 Street in July 2015.
The security video depicts a portion of his fatal encounter with Const. Elizabeth Cucheran.
In the video, Cucheran and a recruit can be seen running around a corner, after another officer had called for help saying Brooks was coming at him.
Eleven seconds later, Cucheran returns into frame, retreating from Brooks.
Cucheran testified Brooks was closing the distance between them. As she backed away with her gun drawn, he yelled, “kill you, kill you, kill me,” the inquest heard.
Eventually, they both fall to the ground.
During the entire encounter, Cucheran fired a dozen times, hitting brooks nine times. and Cucheran shot herself in the leg while on the ground with him.
The 911 tape records a woman who saw Brooks walking down the middle of the street near the detachment, clad only in boxer shorts, earlier in the night.
“There’s a young boy walking down, yelling down the street he wants to die. He’s saying ‘kill me, kill me,'” the caller tells the dispatcher.
“I just hearing yelling. I don’t hear him yelling now but he was walking down the street yelling ‘I want to die, kill me, kill me kill me.’ He had no pants. He had a pair of shorts on and no…”
An autopsy later found alcohol and drugs in Brooks’ system. Earlier in the night he had been vandalizing vehicles.
Brooks was unarmed and his family has previously spoken out about the use of force.
Cucheran was charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in 2017 but those charges were stayed in 2019 after prosecutors concluded the use of her weapon was reasonable.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Cucheran apologized to Brooks’ family.
“I have been waiting for almost six years to express my sincerest apologies that you had to bury your son. As a mother myself, I have grieved for you. And I want you to know I never went out there intending for the night to end this way. And I am incredibly sorry for your loss.” Cucheran said.
She remains a member of the RCMP but is no longer a member of Surrey’s force.
The inquest will not make a determination on legal responsibility, but is instead charged with fact finding and making recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths in similar situations.
The proceedings are scheduled to resume Thursday.
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