A new report by B.C.’s police watchdog says an RCMP officer had justified grounds for shooting a gun resulting in a man’s death inside Fraser Canyon Hospital in Hope, B.C., in June 2023.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) released its report Sept. 27, saying the officer’s use of lethal force was “reasonable and justified,” as the man who was killed was a threat to the officer and a patient at the hospital.
“I do not consider that there are reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence under any enactment and therefore the matter will not be referred to Crown counsel for consideration of charges,” Chief Civilian Director Jessica Berglund wrote in the report.
The IIO is a civilian-led agency that investigates all incidents involving police that result in death or serious harm, regardless of whether or not there are allegations of wrongdoing.
Incident began with collision
According to the report, on June 28, 2023, RCMP were called to the scene after the “affected person” deliberately caused a two-vehicle collision at the Zopkios off-ramp on Highway 5.
The man was experiencing mental health issues with suicidal ideation, the report said, and purposefully drove his car off the highway onto a service road, crashing head-on into a parked pickup truck with the alleged intention of killing himself and an unwilling female passenger.
The passenger had previously been in a relationship with the man, the report said, and the injured pair were transported together to a hospital in Hope, about 50 kilometres east of Vancouver.
When the two arrived at the hospital, the woman told staff the man threatened to kill them both, and they were placed in beds at the opposite ends of the hallway, according to the report.
Three police officers then arrived at the hospital and were informed of the situation.
The supervising officer at the hospital told the IIO that the man’s mental condition needed to be assessed before an arrest could take place.
The second officer took a seat in a treatment area close to the man’s hospital bed, which was in one of the emergency department areas, so the officer was able to monitor him while working on a laptop.
The supervising officer then received a call from the second officer saying the man was refusing all medical treatment, causing the supervisor to become concerned the man might discharge himself.
Man arrested
The supervising officer told the other officer to arrest the man and inform him he was not allowed to leave the hospital.
The third officer told the IIO he heard the man being arrested and informed of his Charter rights. He heard the officer involved say, “Hey, sit down,” and saw the officer quickly running backwards down the hall, saying “knife, knife, knife,” while being followed, the report read.
The third officer told the man to “drop the knife” multiple times, with hospital staff and people in the building as witnesses later interviewed by the IIO.
The officer ended up near the emergency department exit, which was also near the treatment area occupied by the female passenger.
As an officer was pushing a rolling hospital bed out of the way, the third officer pulled out a stun gun and shot it at the man from behind, according to the report.
Four gunshots were fired at the man, fatally wounding him, the report says.
The incident “shocked” the community, Hope Mayor Victor A. Smith said at the time, with a B.C. resident describing it as “absolutely horrifying.”
The full report can be read on the IIO’s website.