Before talking about the death of Jean René Junior Olivier, killed by the Repentigny police in August 2021, I want to take a detour to Salt Lake City.
This is where Sergeant Dennis Tueller invented the 21 foot rule in 1983. This rule is known to all police officers in North America, part of whose training is inspired by his “Tueller Drill” 1.
Tueller’s drill was designed to measure the distance a suspect running into a police officer can travel while said police officer draws his weapon, aims and shoots said suspect in the chest.
Average cop reaction time: 1.5 seconds.
Average distance traveled in 1.5 seconds by a healthy adult during Sergeant Tueller’s experiments: 21 feet (6.4 m).
Translation: When a suspect is more than 21 feet from a police officer, the latter is in a zone of relative safety.
But if the suspect enters the “safe” zone of 6.4 m, then he is 1.5 seconds from the policeman. I explained this rule in 2011 when a Montreal police officer shot another distressed man with a knife, also killing a bystander.2.
The “Tueller Drill” quickly became gospel and was often interpreted as follows: a suspect armed with a knife who comes within 21 feet of a police officer must be “incapacitated”.
This is why North American police officers shoot people who hold a knife, whether they are criminal suspects or people in psychiatric distress.
Two other elements of context, before going further.
First, it’s never “just a knife” for a policeman, it’s a lethal weapon, no matter who holds it, a thief who has just robbed a convenience store or a man in psychosis.
Then, the police do not fire a warning shot, they do not shoot “in the legs”, they do not shoot “to disarm”: when they shoot, it is to kill, by virtue of a danger estimated as mortal for themselves or for others.
Jean René Junior Olivier was not a criminal. He was sick.
At 7:30 a.m. on 1er August 2021, Mr. Olivier’s mother called 911, alarmed by her son’s behavior.
THURSDAY, The Press reported how the drama began: [Marie-Mireille Bence] informed the dispatcher [du 911] that his son no longer slept, saw people who did not exist and was in possession of a knife which he refused to part with. The lady said she feared for her safety and that of her son. »3
Two police officers arrive at 7:45 a.m., then two more. The agents negotiate with Mr. Olivier and try to convince him to put his knife on the ground. A fifth agent arrives. He also parleyed with M. Olivier.
Jean René Junior Olivier, he lays down his weapon on the ground…
To immediately take it back into his hand.
He repeats this trick several times.
The police stand at a distance.
At 8 a.m., Jean René Junior Olivier takes his weapon and rushes towards the police, who are about five meters from him.
The police shoot. Mr. Olivier collapses one meter from the officers.
Immediately, the police officers present began resuscitation maneuvers on Mr. Olivier. Without success.
I quote the Director of Penal and Criminal Prosecutions (DPCP), who explained the decision not to lay charges against the officers: “Each of the two police officers involved had reasonable grounds to believe that the force applied to the man was necessary for their protection from grievous bodily harm or death and that the use of their firearm was the only way to end this threat. »
I emphasize here that the scene was filmed by a paramedic, who handed over the video to the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI). The video, according to the DPCP, corroborates witness statements.
Jean René Junior Olivier was Black.
And the Repentigny police have often been accused of racial profiling. The anecdotes, put to an end4 exhausted5paint a troubling portrait6 the propensity of the Repentigny police to arrest black people for racial profiling.
In the context, the death of Jean René Junior Olivier was assimilated to racism on the part of the police officers who shot him, and this, from the tragic event.
I quote Pierre Richard Thomas7, president of an organization that fights against racial profiling, during a ceremony which underlined the death of Jean René Junior Olivier in 2022 in front of the town hall of Repentigny: “Junior’s death is a sequel of slavery and the slave system which was based on racial superiority. »
The death of Jean René Olivier Junior is a tragedy.
But in view of the facts mentioned by the DPCP, in view of the testimonies collected by the BEI from witnesses – testimonies supported by a video – we are far from a summary execution motivated by racist police officers from Repentance.
On the contrary, the police took the time to negotiate with Mr. Olivier. They tried to reason with him for 15 minutes.
And at the end of these 15 minutes, Mr. Olivier charged the police with his knife. It cost him his life.
Racial profiling exists, it is statistical evidence. But to say that “Junior’s death is a legacy of slavery” was to jump to a hasty conclusion that has aged very, very badly.
If anti-racism activists have evidence that contradicts the findings of the BEI and the DPCP in the case of Mr. Olivier’s death, they are invited to present it to the public. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
I go back to the 21-foot rule. Its validity is disputed, for several reasons.8. In interview with the New York Times in 2015, Dennis Tueller claimed that he simply wanted to signal to the police, in 1983, that they could be in danger much faster than they believed in front of a suspect.
He never wanted to make it an absolute rule, like: as soon as the suspect is 20 feet away, the boys, PULL. But it became such a rule as it was taught in North America.
I would add that a scientific study9 established that the truly safe distance to face a knife-wielding assailant is 32 feet…
Which is often impractical as a distance to keep with an arrested individual.
And in the United Kingdom, the police are trained to intervene other than with weapons with suspects armed with a knife. Watch this CBC video10 on a suspect subdued by police while brandishing a machete, in 2016.
It was the philosophy behind police training that killed Jean René Junior Olivier, not racism.
If there are any questions to ask, it’s about this workout.