‘Suicide by police’ was a consideration for a Vancouver Police Department emergency response team member as he arrived at what would be a fatal shooting by officers in November 2016.
Daniel Peter Rintoul, 38, died Nov. 10 2016 after police shot him multiple times outside the Grandview and Boundary Canadian Tire store. The shooting came after what appeared to be a botched robbery in the store’s firearms department.
Six years later, the case is now before a coroner's inquest. The five-person jury can make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances. A jury must not make any finding of legal responsibility or express any conclusion of law.
Const. Spencer Green told presiding coroner Susan Barth and a jury he fired five rubber bullets at the man as he lay on the ground outside the store.
Const. Gary Li and then Const. Joshua Wong have already testified they shot Rintoul after he allegedly stabbed store employee Jose de Jesus and Const. Justin Fraser, both of whom wound up in hospital with knife wounds.
Rintoul had gone to the store's gun counter and bear-sprayed de Jesus before stabbing him, the inquest heard. He then began trying to get guns and had tried loading one.
He then fled that department and took 82-year-old hostage Harry Bruderer as a ‘human shield’ and exited the store.
Li Tasered the man; he went down, at which point Li and Fraser and store security officer Ifran Elahi attempted to subdued him. In the scuffle, Fraser was stabbed and Li shot the man.
Other officers soon arrived and formed a line between Fraser and Rintoul. There was fear he might rise and use Fraser’s nearby loaded rifle.
Multiple people have testified that the man was shouting at police to kill him. Asked by a juror what such a situation can mean, Green said, “Based on my training, this is a very motivated individual to commit suicide by police.”
Green and other officers arrived after Li’s initial shooting. The man was attempting to rise again when Wong fired.
The suspect had been attempting to get up and fired off bear spray at police while still grasping a knife in his other hand, officers have testified.
Green was armed with an ARWEN gun, a less-lethal option used by police. He said projectiles travel 240 feet per second and they're designed to stun muscles so a person can be subdued.
“It’s like getting hit by a fastball,” he said.
On arrival, Green saw a man on the ground with police facing him.
“All of them had their guns drawn,” he said.
“It was very chaotic.”
Green said he had decided he should approach with less lethal force as he arrived but added lethal force is the first consideration in such cases.
He noted sometimes less-lethal force often doesn’t work in cases where a person may be highly motivated, and have mental health or substance abuse issues.
“If it doesn’t, you need to use lethal force,” he said.
Green fired five times.
“They were completely ineffective,” he said.
Once it was clear the man was no longer a risk, it was Green and another officer who approached with a riot shield and pinned the man to the ground to handcuff him.
Pulling out a first-aid kit, he began to cut the man’s clothes away.
“When I took his shirt off, I observed some bullet holes,” he testified. “There were some additional bullet holes in his back. I couldn’t tell if they were entry wounds or exist wounds.”
At the direction of a paramedic, he then began CPR.
After going in with other officers to ensure there were no other suspects in the store, Green returned outside and gave the ARWEN gun to another officer to be given to the Independent Investigations Office for a subsequent investigation.
The case continues Nov. 4 with testimony, including that of a use-of-force expert.
