An investigation into the fatal shooting of a driver by a Calgary officer on Christmas Day 2018 found serious policy violations made during the response, but the officer’s actions were ultimately justified.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), a police watchdog, released its findings Friday in the police response on Dec. 25, 2018, when a woman was shot three times in the head while in her Honda sedan.
The family of the deceased woman identified her to CTV News as Stacey Perry.
ASIRT says the 30-year-old woman was the subject of a police investigation into erratic driving near Inglewood shortly before midnight on December 24 following her release from hospital. The driver continued and ran a red light as two separate police units attempted a traffic stop. Warden advised against chasing the car. A HAWCS team followed the suspicious vehicle overhead for more than 20 minutes before being called back for another call.
A 911 call made just before 2:20 a.m. reported a suspected drunk driver who was running into oncoming traffic on Falconridge Boulevard near 64th Avenue NE. Officers located the car minutes later, determined it was the same suspect vehicle from earlier, and pursued it into Saddleridge and south on Stoney Trail.
The low-speed pursuit on Stoney Trail, with speeds below 60 km/h in a 100 km/h zone, ended after the car exited onto McKnight Boulevard.
ASIRT says the acting staff sergeant authorized the use of a four-unit entry maneuver at 2:35 a.m. to stop the car, despite the fact that only one of the responding CPS members, Sgt. the car.
The suspect vehicle was stopped as four police vehicles surrounded it from the front, rear, driver’s side and passenger side.
CPS units on McKnight Boulevard, between Stoney Trail and 68th Street NE, on Christmas Day 2018 after a vehicle chase that ended in the fatal shooting of Stacey Perry.
The two officers in the unit on the driver’s side of the suspect’s vehicle exited their patrol car through the passenger door closest to the suspect. The vehicle they were in was not parked close enough to the suspect’s vehicle, and when the suspect attempted to accelerate and drive off, one of the officers was pinned between the door and frame of their unit and lifted off the ground.
The officer, who was a passenger in the driver’s side block of the suspect vehicle, fired three shots at the suspect at close range and all three shots struck the driver in the head.
The injured woman’s foot remained on the gas pedal after the shooting and remained on the pedal until another officer broke the passenger window and was able to stop the car.
The nailed policeman was released and, according to ASIRT, he was not injured.
ASIRT says the officer who was trapped had to remain in the driver’s seat of the unit, with his foot on the brake, during the maneuver to ensure the box around the vehicle remained in place.
An autopsy confirmed that the suspect died as a result of the gunshot wounds to her head, and a toxicology examination found cocaine and a benzodiazepine in her body.
“The officer’s conduct must be judged through the lens of his training and the situation in which he was placed,” ASIRT officials said in their report on the actions of the officer who shot Perry. “Based on this and all the evidence, regardless of the heartbreaking outcome, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer in question committed any wrongdoing. The subject officer was responding to the imminent risk of serious injury or death to his fellow officer presented by the woman.
“While she may have been in some state of distress, that does not change the situation on the ground at this time nor the risk she posed to the trapped officer.”
In its report, ASIRT added that there had been “serious breaches of CPS policy which led to this appalling situation”, but that the issue of policy breaches was for CPS to resolve.
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