The family of a B.C. woman who lay dying for days after Mounties failed to fully investigate reports of shots fired is suing three levels of government.
Lisa Dudley and her boyfriend Guthrie McKay were shot inside their home in Mission on Sept. 22, 2008, but weren't discovered until a neighbour peered in their window four days later. McKay was already dead, but Dudley died on the way to hospital.
RCMP Const. Mike White responded to a 911 call reporting the gunshots, but did not get out of his cruiser to look around or speak to the neighbour who made the call.
Dudley's mother Rosemarie Surakka filed suit against B.C.'s solicitor general, the attorney general of Canada and the District of Mission on Thursday, alleging that police "caused or contributed to a chain of events" that led to Dudley's death.
"Ms. Dudley was deprived of her right to life and security of the person due to the failures of the RCMP and its officers," the suit reads.
"In particular, Ms. Dudley's demise was caused or contributed to by her being trapped, paralyzed and bleeding, in her chair for nearly four days."
Surakka is asking for damages for violations of her daughter's right to life.
In a recording of a conversation between White and 911 dispatcher Theresa Ness on the night of the shooting, the two can be heard chuckling about the emergency call.
White tells Ness, "Six gunshots in a row and a crash."
"Yeah," she responds, followed by the sound of laughter. "Don't you love this?"
"Yeah, I'll head out," White replies.
A second constable was also dispatched to the scene, but White radioed to say he did not require backup even though he was told that the caller "is fairly certain that it is not firecrackers," according to the lawsuit.
White parked near the scene of the shooting for seven minutes before leaving to attend to another call, the suit claims. He later wrote in a report that he had found no evidence of shots fired.
While White sat in his cruiser outside the rural property, Dudley was bleeding heavily from two gunshots to the neck. When paramedics finally arrived at the home, she was glued to her seat with dried blood, according to the lawsuit.
She died less than two hours after emergency workers appeared at the home.
None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been proven in court, and those named in the claim have yet to file a statement of defence.
White -- now a corporal with the RCMP -- was punished with just one day's docked pay and a written reprimand after a disciplinary hearing. The board found him guilty of grave misconduct because he did not conduct a comprehensive investigation, do a foot patrol or knock on the door.
The RCMP says it has apologized to Dudley's family and changed its policy so that officers must speak directly with individuals who report shots fired.
Police have arrested three men, Bruce Main, Jack Woodruff and Justin MacKinnon, and charged them with first-degree murder in Dudley and McKay's deaths.
Authorities have not commented on the connection between the three accused and the victims, but believe the shootings were targeted.
Neither Dudley nor McKay had a criminal record or was known to police.