When the province created the Independent Investigations Office in 2012, it was meant to eliminate the fraught situation where police officers investigated their fellow police officers.
Instead, an outside, civilian-led agency would provide a thorough, impartial examination of instances where the police actions led to the serious injury or death of those they were sworn to protect.
Unfortunately, on its first day on the job, it appears the IIO has not only failed to provide that reassurance but turned the death of Prince George veteran Greg Matters into a circus of speculation and uncertainty.
The story seemed to be clear. On Sept. 10, 2012, after a 30-hour standoff, a member of a Prince George RCMP emergency response team shot Matters twice after the 40-year-old ex-soldier allegedly threatened another ERT team member with a hatchet. The IIO, which had opened its doors that day, began its first investigation that night.
On May 2013, Richard Rosenthal, the chief civil director of the IIO concluded the officers involved should not face criminal charges after "Mr. Matters [was shot] twice with two bullets to the chest." That October, at a coroner's inquest into Matters' death, a pathologist testified that the bullets struck the ex-soldier in the back, forcing the IIO to issue a supplemental report clarifying the inconsistency.
In the supplemental report released this month, Rosenthal says the error stemmed from repeating an autopsy report summary, that the bullets indeed entered Matters back on the left side, exiting the right front of the ex-soldier's chest and he was "under no misapprehension about the locations of the wounds."
But he goes on to write in the supplemental report, because the bullets broke Matters ribs, "this raised questions for me [in the original report] about how bones can potentially change the directions of bullets." However, the pathologist said hitting the ribs wouldn't change the trajectory of the bullets when he met with IIO staff last month, more than a year after Rosenthal issued his initial report.
More troubling still, a report from The Province details allegations made by Robin Stutt, the lead investigator in the Matters case, who claims he was dismissed without cause from the IIO this year. He says, after the IIO received the Matters autopsy in 2012, he "requested that [the] findings be reviewed by a bio-mechanical engineer in an effort to determine the path of the bullets... and the trajectory from which they were fired. My request was denied."
Rosenthal, both in the supplemental report and in comments to The Province, says he did not feel the trajectory of the bullets was relevant because the ERT member who shot Matters was protecting another Mountie rather than defending himself.
His reasoning is not that compelling - admittedly, the IIO deals strictly with criminality, the officer who shot Matters is not claiming self-defence and therefore it doesn't matter where the ex-soldier was hit. But from the perspective of the public, the difference between Matters being hit in the chest and the back is not mere semantics. The mind jumps to the possibility, as Rosenthal writes "deadly force [was used] against an assailant who was attempting to flee or who did not constitute an immediate threat."
It is important to note Stutt agrees with Rosenthal that the ERT team member who shot Matters was correct in acting to stop what he believed was an imminent threat to a fellow team member. The balance of the evidence supports that view. But it is hard not to agree with Stutt that the process in which the IIO exonerated the Prince George ERT was flawed and the whole affair undermines the credibility of the agency.
Stutt was also critical of how the IIO examined a key piece of evidence - the hatchet Matters allegedly used to threaten the ERT. No forensic evidence has ever linked Matters to the weapon; during the coroner's inquest, Stutt admitted the hatchet sat under a tarp for 15 hours and the IIO was forced to rely on North District RCMP to gather evidence from the scene.
More concerning still, Stutt accused Rosenthal of unduly influencing the investigation - forcing the IIO boss to tell The Province "there was no information suppression whatever." Stutt also pointed out the IIO sent two employees to Prince George as special advisers, one of whom had not been out of the RCMP for five years, another who was still collecting an RCMP salary. Officers must not have served in B.C. for five years before they are hired by the IIO.
To dampen these questions, Rosenthal appointed Vancouver lawyer Mark Jette to review the IIO's Matters investigation. Meanwhile, the family wants a full federal Commission of Inquiry.
Regardless, it's led to the absurd situation of finding more eyes to figure out who watches the watchers of the watchers.
