An RCMP emergency response team acted "within the course and scope and execution of their duties," when a member shot and killed Gregory Matters during a standoff in Pineview nearly two-and-a-half years ago, according to a response to a civil lawsuit brought by his mother.
The response, filed last week with B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George, said Cpl. Colin Warwick shot Matters on Sept. 10, 2012 because he was closing in on a fellow Mountie, Cst. Matthew Reddeman, "while brandishing a raised tactical axe in a threatening manner."
Matters had "ignored and continued to ignore repeated demands made by four of the members" to drop the axe and Reddeman "did not have sufficient time or opportunity to defend himself or flee" from Matters.
Warwick had "reasonable grounds to believe, and honestly did so believe" that Reddeman was in "immediate danger of death or grievous bodily harm" and that the only option was to shoot Matters.
The defendants also deny Warwick assaulted Matters' mother, Lorraine, while arresting her earlier that same day. Likewise, they deny an allegation that Warwick pressed the muzzle of a firearm to her neck and kneed her in the chest during the arrest.
The response also denies the RCMP kept Lorraine Matters in custody for 14 hours following her arrest. Rather, they say her arrest was rescinded soon after she had arrived at the detachment and she was free to leave but voluntarily remained to help members in their effort to negotiate a peaceable arrest with her son.
They also say the lock on the gate across the road that led to an old cabin where Matters was found was "lawfully breached" and that the ERT "lawfully entered upon the cabin lands."
In a notice of claim filed on Sept. 9, three days shy of the secondary anniversary of the incident, Lorraine Matters claimed damages related to the death of her son as well as her alleged treatment by RCMP.
The Canadian military veteran was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of his death and had previous run-ins with RCMP. An ERT was called in as part of an attempt to apprehend Matters after he ran his brother's vehicle off the road the day before his death.
Andrew Kemp, who represented the RCMP during a coroner's inquest into the death last fall, is the lawyer of record for the defendants in the proceeding. The defendants are listed as the provincial government, the federal attorney general and Warwick.
