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www.pgfreepress.com ■ INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS
Local RCMP officer cleared of wrongdoing DELYNDA PILON newsroom@pgfreepress.com
The Independent Investigation Office closed two investigations Friday, including one that occurred in Prince George on March 8. Richard Rosenthal, civilian director of the IIO, hosted a press conference last week to report the outcome of an officerinvolved shooting in Vancouver and a foot pursuit that ended in serious injury to the subject in Prince George. An RCMP officer responded to a disturbance call at an Upland Street apartment building just after midnight on March 8 when a 27-year-old was reported to be knocking on apartment doors. The officer saw the man leave the building and pursued him. The subject fled, and while trying to get away attempted to jump a ravine and ended up at the bottom of it, falling about eight metres, seriously injured. Rosenthal said no criminal act was committed by the officer, who ordered the man to stop, then pursued him when he refused to do so. “There is no reason to believe there was contact between the RCMP officer and affected person,” Rosenthal said. “We are closing off the case. No referral to crown will be made.” The other case was an officerinvolved shooting in Vancouver where a man coming after the officer with a knife was fatally shot. Rosenthal said the majority of witness statements were consistent with the officer’s statement. “We concluded the officer acted lawfully and in self-defence,” Rosenthal said.
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Newly installed banners brighten the downtown area Friday. The project, which drew over 98 local artist renditions, is a partnership between Two Rivers Gallery and the City. The nine successful artists are Melissa Bain, Maureen Faulkner, Elizabeth Gibbs, Betty Kovacic, Marc Lacaille, Amanda Nolan, Jennifer Annais Pighin (for two images, Frog and Grouse) and Tatiana Wimmer. There was no referral to crown, but the case has been referred to the Vancouver police department and the police complaints commissioner. Rosenthal also reported on the status of several cases. Since opening its doors in September, the IIO has looked at 39 cases and asserted jurisdiction in 21. Eleven were closed by public report.Three were referred to
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crown, including an officer-involved shooting in Cranbrook. One included a use-of-force allegation. In that case charges were declined by crown. A motor vehicle incident out of Campbell Rver which ended in serious injury is in the hands of crown, which will decide whether or not to file charges. The IIO has been deployed on eight officer involved shootings.
It took seven and a half months for the office to reach a decision in the Greg Matters case, one that occurred in Prince George. There are four pending officer-involved shooting cases the IIO is in various stages of investigating, the oldest being what they refer to as the casino shooting, which happened six months ago, a shooting in Burnaby a bit over 100 days ago, one in Van-
couver three weeks ago, and one in Surrey last week. “We are dedicated to thorough investigations and also timely investigations, and that is one of the things our staff is really working on,” he said. He added the IIO investigation is often the first of many steps which can include administrative investigations and potentially coroner’s inquests.