The family of a Prince George man who died after an arrest seven years ago is outraged that charges against two police officers have been stayed.
Const. Paul Ste-Marie and Const. Jean Francois Monette were charged with manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Dale Culver.
On Friday, the BC Prosecution Service said those charges had been stayed because the Crown determined there was no longer a “reasonable prospect of conviction.”
The decision was based on the results of a new pathology report that concluded his Culver had died of a heart attack related to the “effects of methamphetamine following a struggle.”
“To call our system a justice system is not true, otherwise we wouldn’t be standing here with no justice today,” Culver’s eldest daughter Lily Speed-Namox said outside the Prince George courthouse on Friday.
“There is no reason or doubt in my mind that it is still those RMCP (officers’) fault that he is dead because without that given interaction that night he would still be here today.”
Culver’s cousin, Debbie Pierre, said the case had been a “seven-year journey” of “pain and heartache” for the family.
“How many Indigenous people, how many people in British Columbia have been injured and killed by the RCMP and no charges, no accountability, no transparency. This has to stop for everybody,” she said. “We cannot continue to make excuses for deaths by (police).”
Lawyer Ravi Hira, K.C., counsel for Const. Ste-Marie, said the staying of the charges showed that the justice system got the case wrong and that “there was no homicide here.”
Because components of the system, the pathologist, got it wrong, the families have for seven years believed that the police were involved in the death of Mr. Culver. These two police officers for seven years have had their lives on hold facing this charge, manslaughter,” he said.
“The public has been put into this invidious position. The courts and the time that’s been occupied, setting up dates and getting ready for this matter. What has happened here is tragic, but one wouldn’t have thought that a component of the system would have gotten that wrong.”
Culver’s family, however, said it won’t give up its fight in his name, and hasn’t ruled out an independent investigation.
Dale Culver, a 35-year-old father and member of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Nations was arrested on July 18, 2017.
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Police said they were responding to reports he was “casing” vehicles, and alleged he refused to stop for a Prince George RCMP officer while riding his bike.
An officer pursued Culver first in an SUV then on foot, ultimately pulling him from his bike, at which point the two got into a fight.
The officer used an emergency button to call for backup, and sprayed culver in the face with pepper spray, before attempting to handcuff Culver, who had rolled onto his stomach, according to the statement.
Const. Ste-Marie, who was the next officer to arrive, punched Culver at least once in the head, while Const. Monette, who arrived afterward, kicked or kneed Culver in the head or upper body, according to the prosecution service.
More officers arrived and were able to handcuff Culver, who was able to walk with assistance to a nearby police vehicle.
Culver was initially responsive when paramedics arrived, but collapsed and died 29 minutes after his interaction with the arresting officers, which had lasted about three minutes.
The Independent Investigations Office, B.C.’s civilian police watchdog, subsequently submitted a report to prosecutors stating there may be grounds to conclude officers had committed an offence.
Conflicting pathology reports
Crown prosecutors initially determined there wasn’t a “substantial likelihood of conviction,” but that the lower bar of a “reasonable prospect” had been met and laid manslaughter charges.
A pathologist’s initial autopsy concluded Culver had died as a result of “abundant fibrin microthrombi throughout the pulmonary microvasculature,” and listed six contributing factors including blunt force head trauma.
That finding was reviewed and supported by a panel of three pathologists including the person who conducted the initial autopsy.
But the BC Prosecution Service said as Crown counsel prepared their case they had “a number of questions” for the pathologist relating to the cause of death.
When prosecutors were “unable to resolve” the outstanding questions, they consulted another independent pathologist with a specialty in police cases.
Contrary to the initial report, the reviewing pathologist concluded Culver had died of “acute and chronic adverse effects of methamphetamine following a struggle,” resulting in “sudden cardiac (arrhythmic) death.”
“In light of the new pathology report, in conflict in material respects with the original autopsy report, the BCPS has concluded that there is no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction against the two officers charged with manslaughter,” the prosecution service said.
“Based on the evidence available, the BCPS is not able to prove causation, an essential element of the offence of manslaughter, beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Prosecutors also concluded that they were unable to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that either officer had committed any lesser offence.
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