Image Credit: IIO

By James Peters

IIO

Mounties will not be charged after wild chase from Falkland to Westwold ends in rough arrest

Nov 2, 2023 | 11:32 AM

WESTWOLD, B.C. — B.C.’s police watchdog says RCMP officers who used potentially lethal force against a home invasion suspect after a wild chase in the Westwold area will not be charged.

The incident began in Falkland at about 8:00 a.m. on December 3, 2019. It ended later that morning in Westwold.

RCMP received a report of a man and woman attempting to steal gas from a service station in Falkland. The pair were suspects in an armed home invasion the day before, after which they evaded police by hitting two police vehicles with their car.

After the alleged fuel theft, the suspects fled from officers westbound on Highway 97 toward Westwold, driving over several police spike belts in the process. Mounties said the suspect driver was acting dangerously, driving into the path of oncoming vehicles and firing a long-barrelled gun out the window toward a pursuing police vehicle.

The suspect eventually drove into a field in Westwold, not far from the community’s elementary school, which was subsequently placed on lockdown.

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Before the pair exited the vehicle, an officer positioned about 177 metres away fired a carbine at the car.

The suspect was eventually arrested with the assistance of a police service dog.

About 15 months after the incident, the suspect’s doctor informed the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO) that the man suffered “a potentially serious lasting disability” due to the arrest.

The IIO conducted separate investigations of the arrest and the officer firing a carbine at the car.

In a report issued Thursday (Nov. 2), IIO General Counsel Martin Allen said there was a long list of risk factors that played into the officers’ decisions to use force on the suspect.

As a result, the matter will not be referred to the B.C. Prosecution Service for charge consideration.