File photo (Image credit: Contributed/Nathan Ritchie).

By Aaron Schulze

No Charges Approved

BC Prosecution Service doesn’t approve for Kamloops officers who used “non-fatal use of force”

Jul 2, 2024 | 6:00 AM

KAMLOOPS — The BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) announced it will not approve charges against three Kamloops RCMP officers following a “non-fatal use of force” in Brocklehurst four years ago, despite recommendations from B.C.’s police watchdog.

In a news release issued Friday (June 28), BCPS says it is unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Kamloops officers committed any offence, given the available evidence.

The decision stems from June 23, 2020, where Kamloops RCMP officers were called to a home in the 1000-block of Newton Street, for the report of an altercation that may have involved a gun.

When officers arrived, they ordered all residents of two separate suites at that address to leave the home. When one man did not comply with officers, they used a 40-millimetre “less lethal” round and a police service dog to bring him into compliance.

In 2021, Ron MacDonald, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C.’s chief civilian director, says his review of the evidence found that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the officer “may have committed offences in relation to the use of force.”

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In its decision, BCPS says while there was an elevated risk to the man from the use of a gun, the evidence does not support an inference that death or grievous bodily harm was the likely of intended result of the officers.

“… the officers were responding to a 911 call purportedly involving a potentially life-threatening situation,” BCPS states. “In these circumstances the officers had a common law duty to investigate… The [man] was not initially compliant with commands to exit the residence and then was not compliant with commands to put his hands up and to get on the ground. The [officers] were aware that multiple weapons, including firearms, had been seized from the residence less than three weeks before. In these circumstances, the [officers’] belief there was a risk to themselves, or others, was reasonable.”

The full decision can be read here.