Log Cabin Chronicles Fred Ryan's column Death by police shooting

LOG CABIN CHRONICLES

Which Canada to celebrate?

FRED RYAN
Posted 07.10.08

AYLMER, QUEBEC | The death of anyone by shooting is shocking. When the person with the gun is a police officer, our shock is magnified, and when the person shot turns out to have been unarmed, blinded by pepper spray, and was shot three times at close range, our shock turns to mortification.

And when we learn that the victim was shot not because he was threatening anyone, but because he refused to comply with the officer's demand to get down on the ground, our shock turns to anger.

[Editor's Note: David Leclair, 35, was killed by a police officer at 11:30 a.m. on June 28 outside his home. Reportedly, Leclair had been involved earlier in a domestic dispute. He was shot twice in the chest and once in the arm. The police officer was reportedly "treated for shock."]

We should be indignant that a person could lose his life for such a relatively harmless crime. Of the calls and visits we received at the Bulletin over this incident, many residents are asking if we should expect now to be shot if we fail to provide our drivers license fast enough or if we do not pull over as quickly as an officer wishes. Others ask if the police are trying to terrorize Aylmer. Such remarks are ridiculous, but they capture the anger in our community.

This anger isn't eased knowing the investigation is in the hands of the Sûreté du Québec.

True, this is a different police force, but it is also a force which works every day with the Gatineau police and which must count on the cooperation of officers in the Gatineau corps.

The investigation should come from further afield. There should be a full arm's length between the investigating police and the investigated police. The federal police would not be a good choice, but why not New Brunswick (or First Nations) police investigators? New Brunswick and Acadien police are bilingual and are above nationalistic machinations.

The public -- judging from all the remarks and comments brought to the Bulletin -- does not hold the Gatineau police in high esteem. No more, apparently, than do nearby police forces.

Ottawa has denied Gatineau police entry to their city, at least until the Gatineau police show more professionalism, a reference to Gatineau police refusing to wear their uniforms while on duty. Since the June 28th incident is feeding the suspicions of so many people, the investigation must be public and wide-ranging to, in the end, rebuild the reputation of the Gatineau force.

We do know that police officers are under pressure, and that incidents can quickly spin out of control. But officers are trained to deal with such dramas. They are given psychological evaluations to determine if they can remain calm in difficult situations. Officers are taught that in cases of non-compliance, they should fall back and call for more police or for their supervisors. This process broke down, leaving an Aylmer man dead and a nine-year old girl fatherless.

The residents of our city have the right to known what happened, and why it did, in the most transparent and thorough manner. Many of those who called are convinced this incident will be swept under the rug. Will it?