Man Dies in Edmonton Police Custody (June 24, 2020)

A man has died in Edmonton police custody only a few hours after being arrested in the early morning of June 24, 2020. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), the agency that examines cases of police harm to civilians in the province, is investigating. It has been reported that the man was arrested for “public intoxication” after police responded to a call at a gas station near 51st Avenue and 122nd Street in the Lansdowne neighborhood at around 4 AM. Police claim the man “appeared to be on drugs” so it appears that this is another drug war death based on assumptions about appearance.

The man was arrested and taken to the Southwest Division station in Windermere. At around 7 AM, the victim was found unresponsive in his holding cell. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A spokesperson for Edmonton Police Service has said publicly that details could not be provided about how often the man was checked while he was detained in the holding cell.

Sûreté du Québec (SQ) Shoot and Kill 53-Year-Old Man in Lavaltrie (June 22, 2020)

Quebec’s provincial police force (Sûreté du Québec, SQ) shot and killed a 53-year-old man in Lavaltrie, Quebec (Lanaudière region), on June 22, 2020. The Bureau des enquetes independantes (Bureau of Independent Investigations, BEI), the agency that examines cases of police harm to civilians in the province, is investigating the killing.

The BEI report that provincial police were called to a home in Lavaltrie around 8:20 PM in response to an alleged domestic dispute between a man and a woman. Police removed the man from the home but escorted him back inside to retrieve his wallet and some belongings. According to the BEI, police claim that once inside the man took a knife and injured himself. In response, as is far too typical, an SQ officer shot him and killed him.

Once again, when faced with someone apparently in distress and believed to pose a harm to themselves, police take action to do worse harm to the person. They act hastily to kill them.

In the last two weeks alone, the BEI has opened six investigations into police violence, including the RCMP killing of Rodney Levi, a Metepenagiag First Nation man, in New Brunswick.

The BEI is not an independent investigative agency. They rely on other police forces to do their investigations. The Montreal police service will be taking part in the investigation of this killing. The very force that killed a 51-year-old man two days before.

Man Dies After Being Pepper Sprayed and Subdued by Montreal Police (June 20, 2020)

A 51-year-old man died after being pepper sprayed and subdued by Montreal police late Saturday night. According to the Bureau des enquetes independantes (Bureau of Independent Investigations, BEI), the agency that examines cases of police harm to civilians, Montreal police responded at around 10:40 PM to calls about a domestic dispute at a hotel on Sherbrooke Street. According to the BEI, the man ran once police arrived and officers chased him for about 300 meters.

Police allegedly caught up to him near the corner of Ontario and Saint-Timothée streets, where they pepper sprayed, subdued, and handcuffed him. During the takedown and arrest, the man lost consciousness and did not have a pulse. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead there.

The BEI has initially assigned six investigators to the killing. They are also using a forensic expert with the provincial police force (SQ) to assist with the investigation. It is thus not an independent investigation, and police are involved in investigating police.

Peel Police Kill Ejaz Ahmed Choudry (62) in Mississauga (June 20, 2020)

Peel Region police shot and killed 62-year-old Ejaz Ahmed Choudry on Saturday, June 20, 2020. He was reportedly shot five times in the back. Mr. Choudry, a Muslim man, was experiencing mental health crisis and needed support and care, not police primed to shoot to kill. He was a husband and father of four, the youngest of whom is only seven.

According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the agency that examines cases of police harm to civilians in Ontario, reports that police were called to an apartment unit at 3425 Morning Star Drive, near Goreway Drive, at around 5 PM, to “check on the well-being of a man.” Family members have since said that Mr. Choudry suffered from schizophrenia as well as other illnesses. He was alone in the unit and did not pose a threat to the public or others. Family members have described him as harmless.

For an older man in crisis alone in his room, posing no threat to others, police sent multiple officers and a canine unit. A video taken by a witness and posted on twitter, shows police tactical units putting climbing a ladder and breaking into Mr. Choudry’s second floor apartment from the balcony. Three officers are shown kicking open the door and shouting into the residence. One can imagine the awful impact this might have on someone said to be in crisis. Several gunshots can be heard before all three officers even enter the apartment, again raising issues of the shoot first approach by police officers. This is one reason that they should not be sent out on mental health related calls.

Incredibly, police have sought to explain killing Mr. Choudry by suggesting they were concerned about his safety. Peel Constable Sarah Patten claims: “The state of crisis that he was in and the belief that he had access to weapons, yes, we believe that he was a danger to himself” (quoted in CBC News 2020). Patten makes the absurd statement that officers broke into his apartment “to check on his well-being” (quoted in CBC News 2020).

According to the SIU, police claim that once police entered the apartment unit, “an interaction occurred which included officers deploying a conducted energy weapon at the man, as well as firing plastic projectiles from an Anti-Riot Weapon Enfield” (quoted in CBC News 2020). Again, we must ask why police were doing a supposed wellness check with anti-riot weapons?

The mentality of police is reflected in this statement by Peel Regional Police Constable Akhil Mooken, who said, tellingly: “Communication was initiated with the man to try to communicate a peaceful surrender” (quoted in Yuen 2020). Surrender. This is the language of war. For someone needing health care supports.
Family Members Not Allowed to Help

Family members who were present say that Mr. Choudry had come to the door when other families had been removed from the unit but was frightened back in when he saw officers coming toward him. An entirely understandable response to seeing police coming at you.

Khizar Shahzad, a nephew, reports that he informed the supervising officer of the severity of his uncle’s condition and told the officer the man was frightened: “I said, ‘Hey, he’s scared of your uniform, he’s not scared of you’” (quoted in CBC News 2020). The family pleaded with police to allow them to speak with their loved one who did not speak English. Police refusal to allow this is common in cases where police have been called about someone in mental health distress. Family who know the person and how best to interact with them are removed and kept from participating. This often plays a part in deadly police actions.

Muhammed Choudry, also a nephew, implored police: “Let me go upstairs, let my dad go upstairs, let my brother go upstairs. Because we’ve done this before where he listens. He listens to us” (quoted in CBC News 2020).

Family members say Mr. Choudry had difficulty breathing and walking. Mr. Choudry died at the scene.

 

Demands for Review and Inquiry

The Muslim Council of Peel has called for an immediate review of police use of force, particularly during mental-health calls. They also want publicly available race-based demographic data on police shootings. As they note in a media release:

“A disproportionate number of racialized individuals including Black, Indigenous and Muslim are the victims of police shootings across Canada and right here in Peel Region” (quoted in CBC News 2020).

The council and family are demanding an independent public inquiry into the police killing of Ejaz Choudry. In their words:

“Given the video evidence and the testimony of family members, Peel police’s conduct in this matter was clearly excessive and requires nothing short of an independent inquiry unconnected to the SIU” (quoted in CBC News 2020).

Police are heard in the video shouting at Mr. Choudry to put a gun down. No gun was retrieved at the scene.

The SIU has assigned six investigators and three forensic investigators to examine the police killing of Ejaz Choudry.

 

Further Reading

CBC News. 2020. “Family Identifies Man, 62, who was Shot and Killed by Police in Mississauga as SIU Investigates.” CBC News June 21. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/siu-police-shooting-mississauga-1.5621243

Yuen, Jenny. 2020. “Family Demands Inquiry into Shooting of Mentally Ill Man.” Toronto Sun June 21. https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/siu-to-investigate-fatal-police-shooting-in-mississauga

RCMP Shoot and Kill Rodney Levi, a Mi’kmaq Man, Metepenagiag First Nation (June 12, 2020)

People in the community report that New Brunswick RCMP have shot and killed Rodney Levi, a Mi’kmaq man, in Metepenagiag First Nation (also known as Red Bank First Nation) on June 12, 2020. There are few details reported publicly at this time. This is the second killing of an Indigenous person in New Brunswick in eight days, following the Edmunston police killings of Chantel Moore, a 26-year-old Indigenous woman of Tlaoquiaht First Nation on June 4.

Man Dies During Arrest by York Regional Police, Vaughan, Ontario (June 8, 2020)

A 35-year-old man has died during arrest by York Regional Police in Vaughan, Ontario (North of Toronto) on June 8, 2020. According to a police media statement, police were called to a home on Jade Crescent at around 11 PM for an alleged “domestic dispute.” The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the agency that examines cases of police harm in Ontario, reports only that was some unspecified “interaction” between an officer and the man. It has not been said whether or not the officer used a weapon. At some point during the arrest, the SIU report, the victim lost vital signs and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police first claimed that an officer sustained “significant injuries.” That was later changed to describe the injuries as minor.

Man Dies Following Numerous “Falls” After He is Taken into RCMP Custody in Kitimat (June 1, 2020)

The Independent Investigations Office (IIO), the agency that examines cases of police harm in British Columbia, is investigating the death of a man who was taken into RCMP custody in Kitimat. The IIO reports that the man “fell a number of times” after being taken into police custody. He had been arrested on May 30 on reports of “an intoxicated man” near the City Centre Mall. He died on June 1.

According to the IIO, the man was detained by police and transported to hospital after falling, before he was released on the morning of May 31. The IIO reports that the man fell again on May 31, while not in police custody. On June 1 he “was found to be suffering serious injuries while in hospital and passed away later that day.”

Edmundston Police Kill Chantel Moore, 26-Year-Old Indigenous Woman, During “Wellness Check” (June 4, 2020)

Edmundston Police (New Brunswick) shot and killed Chantel Moore, a 26-year-old Indigenous woman of Tlaoquiaht First Nation, near Tofino, so-called British Columbia, during a so-called wellness check early in the morning of June 4, 2020. The family has reported that the victim was shot five times by police. Edmundston Police Force Inspector Steve Robinson told reporters that he did not believe that the officer in question attempted to use any non-lethal force. Chantel Moore was pronounced dead at the scene.

Chantel Moore’s grandmother, Nora Martin, is certain the killing is racist in nature. In her words: “When I first heard about it, that was my first thought: ‘This was racially motivated.’ We’ve been dealing with police brutality for a number of years. I know in my own family it’s been going on for a long time” (quoted in CTV News 2020).

The history of policing in Canada is one of racism and white supremacy at its core. Policing has played a central part in the dispossession, displacement, subjugation, control, killing, and genocide of Indigenous people and communities—has been central to the interlinking settler colonial capitalist projects. And policing continues to play a key part in maintaining those projects up to the present.

This is yet another, too common, case of police being the first sent out when people are believed to be in crisis or in need of a “wellness check.” Police should not be sent under these circumstances. They are not health care providers. Too often the outcome is police killing the person needing support or care. Police are not about wellness. Resources for health care, including mental health care, should be diverted away from police and used in community health care supports. Police budgets continue to grow as necessary health care services require more funding.

Police will be investigating police in this killing. Officers from Saint John will be part of the investigation as well as an as yet unnamed “independent agency” (which will in no way be independent given the involvement of police in the investigation).

 

Further Reading

CTV News. 2020. “’This Was Racially Motivated,’ Says Grandmother of Tofino Woman Shot and Killed by NB Police.” CTV News June 4. https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/this-was-racially-motivated-says-grandmother-of-tofino-woman-shot-and-killed-by-n-b-police-1.4969770

Caleb Tubila Njoko (26) Dies After “Fall” From Balcony During London Police Operation (May 4, 2020) Black Lives Matter

It has been announced that Caleb Tubila Njoko, a 26-year-old Black man who reportedly fell from a 15th floor balcony during a police operation in London, Ontario, on May 4, 2020, has died. Mr. Njoko died on May 8, but his death was only confirmed by the Special Investigations Unit on June 3. There has been no public explanation for the delay in this.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the agency that examines cases of police harm to civilians in Ontario, is investigating. They report that London police responded to 85 Walnut Street on May 4 at around 11:15 PM on a call of a person in distress. Officers entered an apartment on the 15th floor and, at some point, the victim “fell” from a balcony. He was taken to hospital in critical condition and died there four days later.

This is the second Black person to have been killed in what is reported publicly as a fall from a balcony during a police operation in Ontario in May alone. On May 27, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a 29-year-old Black woman, was killed in a “fall” from an apartment balcony in Toronto. Family members and witnesses report that she was shoved off the balcony by Toronto police. Because police control the information that is released when they kill, their version of events must be treated with skepticism and there is a real need to hear from witnesses, if any were present.

Notably, both of these deaths involved police interventions against someone in distress. Police are not suitable for mental health care or interacting with people in distress. Proper health supports and care are needed but are denied resources when those resources go instead to police budgets.

The SIU has assigned one subject officer and three witness officers to its probe. One might ask why the SIU has designated one subject officer if the incident was straightforwardly a “fall.”

Man Dies During Arrest by Richmond, BC, RCMP (May 28, 2020)

A man has died while in custody of RCMP in Richmond, BC, (Metro Vancouver) on May 28, 2020. The Independent Investigations Office (IIO), the agency that examines cases of police harm to civilians in British Columbia, is investigating. As is commonly the case in police killings in Canada, publicly released details are limited.

According to the IIO, RCMP responded to reports of shoplifting at a business in Richmond. Upon arrival, a security guard was struggling with the man. The victim was placed in handcuffs before police addressed his being in medical distress. Emergency responders were called and transported the man to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

This was the first of two police involved deaths in Metro Vancouver in two days.