(Sherbrooke) An expert pointed out during Coroner Géhane Kamel’s inquest into the death of a 17-year-old teenager shot dead by police that the use of lethal force by the Quebec provincial police was justified during this intervention of 2018.
Updated yesterday at 7:29 p.m.
The testimony was the last heard by the coroner investigating the death of Riley Fairholm, who was killed by the Sûreté du Québec while in distress and waving an air gun early on July 25, 2018.
The entire interaction in the parking lot of an abandoned restaurant in Lac-Brome, Estrie, lasted just over a minute, with an experienced police officer repeatedly telling Riley Fairholm to drop his gun before the one of the six police officers present shoots the teenager in the head.
A use-of-force consultant at the Provincial Police Academy and often an expert in investigations, Bruno Poulin, told coroner Géhane Kamel there was no other alternative for officers when faced with an assailant. armed that was not stuck. Letting him wander was not an option.
He advised that the use of lethal force was consistent with what officers are taught.
Mr. Poulin said that if the gun is pointed at the police, they are justified in firing. “It’s a shame, but we don’t have much leeway when someone points a gun at us,” he said.
Among the solutions suggested by Mr. Poulin was the proposal to equip the police with a ballistic shield during interventions related to firearms. He also suggested better education of police officers in training at the academy in Nicolet, Quebec, on police suicide.
Earlier Monday, a researcher from the Quebec Police Academy gave the inquiry insight into the phenomenon of police suicide, in which a person seeking to end their life provokes a confrontation with police.
Another expert said earlier on Monday that the longer a police intervention lasts, the better the chances of a peaceful outcome.
Michael Arruda is a retired Montreal police officer and crisis intervention specialist. He said Monday that his crisis-response training encourages officers to extend the operation when possible, allowing time for reinforcements, non-lethal weapons and other partners to come into play.
What we do know is that if we are able to extend this intervention to 10, 15, 20 minutes, we are more likely to have a peaceful end. Because we are able to call in reinforcements, to use intermediate (non-lethal) weapons, external partners and we can plan the intervention.
Michael Arruda
He explained that these are the techniques of “de-escalation” and that the objective is to buy time to put everything in place so that when it comes time to intervene, it is a peaceful end.
Mr. Poulin nuanced that in the current case, the officers did not have a window to use the de-escalation techniques. He also said that intermediate weapons like a stun gun or sprayer weren’t options for someone with a handgun.
“When the threat is a handgun, lethal force, the response must also be a handgun,” Poulin said.
As hearings wrapped up on Monday, Riley Fairholm’s mother, Tracy Wing, thanked coroner Kamel for helping find answers to some of the questions that have haunted her since her son’s death nearly four years ago. She hopes that people will realize that this type of exercise is important for the relatives of people killed by the police.
Butme Wing still strongly believes that if authorities had taken the time to talk to his son, the outcome might have been different. Her son was unaware that he had just over a minute left before the police were to shoot, she said.
“But I know that in 61 seconds Riley was seen and shot, even after hearing all the testimony today, that was not enough time,” Ms.me Wing.
Coroner Kamel’s report should be released in the fall.