'Somewhat inexplicable failure' of RCMP dashcam system complicates use of force investigation

A crew from the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. is seen in this file photo from the office's website. (iiobc.ca)

A B.C. RCMP officer who shot a man on the side of the highway was justified in his use of force, according to a report from the province's police watchdog that noted there was a "somewhat inexplicable failure" of the police vehicle's dashcam to record the incident.

The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. found it was more likely than not that the officer feared death or grievous bodily harm when he shot a man – referred to as the affected person or "AP" – armed with an "assault-style rifle" on Highway 5 near Barriere in May of 2022.

AP survived the shooting, but the officer's use of force is referred to throughout the report as "lethal" and "deadly." The IIO said AP suffered one gunshot wound "through his left arm and then through his chest from left to right."

Chief Civilian Director Ronald MacDonald's report said that AP's evidence was that he was not pointing his gun at the Mountie when he was shot and that the officer "walked up to him and shot him 'gangster style' without provocation."

However, a witness officer told the IIO that AP raised the rifle and "racked" it.

The IIO can not compel officers under investigation to provide statements or evidence. In this case the Mountie – referred to as the subject officer or "SO" in the report – did provide a short statement but did not provide an account of the shooting itself.

"A full account from SO would have assisted greatly in this investigation. In its absence, the difficult task is to determine whether it is reasonable to accept AP's clear allegation that he was shot in an unprovoked and completely unjustified manner by SO, or whether it is more reasonable to conclude that his account is outweighed by more reliable evidence," MacDonald said.

Given the absence of a statement from SO and the contradictory accounts of what happened, MacDonald said "objective evidence" like dashcam video would have been valuable in helping resolve the "contradictory accounts" of what unfolded.

"Investigators wished to retrieve and view the video because it would likely have captured the interaction between SO and AP, which occurred in the area ahead of SO's stopped vehicle," the report said.

The RCMP vehicle was outfitted with a Watchguard system, which was turned on at the time, but the incident was not caught on camera.

"When later examined, the system appeared to contain no recording from the time of the shooting, though a video segment had been recorded subsequently," the IIO report says.

"There was a somewhat inexplicable failure of the police Watchguard system to record the incident," the report later adds.

SO's statement, provided through counsel, said he did not touch the system after the shooting.

An expert who examined the dashcam system found that no one had done anything to prevent the system from recording and that "the failure to record the incident may have been because the system hard drive was almost full," the report said.

In the absence of video evidence and a statement from SO, MacDonald said it was difficult to get a "definitive picture" of how the shooting unfolded or of SO's justification for using deadly force.

The report notes that medical evidence was "consistent with AP's left arm being raised towards SO at the moment of the shooting, and therefore also consistent with AP having raised the rifle in that direction." It also says that AP's version of events lacked plausibility and that his recollection of what unfolded on that day was contradictory and inconsistent.

"It is more likely than not that AP raised his rifle in a way SO would reasonably have seen as threatening him with grievous bodily harm or death. SO's deployment of lethal force in response, therefore, was more likely than not a justified act of self-defence," MacDonald concluded.

The IIO completed its probe of the shooting in October of 2023, but the report was not released until Monday because parallel criminal proceedings were underway.

Asked about those proceedings, the RCMP identified AP as Daniel Gordon Shore.

On Dec. 19, 2023, Shore pleaded guilty to three firearms charges and was sentenced to time served, 18 months probation and a lifetime firearms ban, according to the BC Prosecution Service. Shore spent 434 days in jail for the offences.