The fatal police shooting of a native man during a robbery in Winnipeg is bringing deep-rooted tensions to the surface in an aboriginal community in Manitoba.
Aboriginal leaders said the shooting of the 18-year-old man reveals systemic, troubling problems between police, government and the aboriginal community.
The province has announced a public inquest, but the Manitoba Southern Chiefs' Organization called Tuesday for an aboriginal-led inquiry into the shooting.
The organization has vowed to keep pressure on the provincial government to implement the recommendations of a high-profile inquiry stemming from the 1988 police shooting of Winnipeg aboriginal leader J.J. Harper.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs released this statement:
"Obviously attitudes by the City of Winnipeg Police have not changed since the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. It's again business as usual, Cowboys against Indians. In the past, we know that the City of Winnipeg Police have changed the facts to protect their own. We only hope this is not occurring in this incident. The City of Winnipeg Police Department's pledge to uphold the law becomes even more important when it is a police officer who may have broken it."
Investigators with the Winnipeg Police Service homicide unit are continuing their internal probe of Monday's shooting.
They're findings will go to an independent third party for review.
Matthew Adam Dumas died in hospital after being shot by police during a confrontation in the city's north end.
Police, who were responding to reports of a mugging, say Dumas came at officers with a weapon and they shot twice in self defence.
Crystal McManus said she was just a yard or two away from where Dumas was shot.
"(He was) right in front of me. He dropped like a brick. That poor boy," she said.
McManus said police officers were yelling at Dumas to put his weapon down, but he didn't listen. She said the officers pepper-sprayed Dumas three times, but he kept walking, while holding a black-handled screwdriver in his hand.
McManus added that she thinks Dumas was shot because of a sudden arm movement he made.
Witness Selena Harper said Dumas was wiping the pepper spray from his face when he was shot.
"He didn't try to lunge at anybody, he was just wiping his eyes. He didn't have to die," she said.
"It looked to me like he was going to put his arms up to rub his eyes, not like out to stab anybody," said Harper.
The incident was the second fatal police shooting in Manitoba within a month.
On Jan. 3, an RCMP officer shot and killed Dennis St. Paul, 30, in Norway House while trying to arrest him on a parole violation.
RCMP conducted an investigation with the help of Winnipeg RCMP, two members of the Regina Police Service and an elder from the Cree community.
With files from CKY News in Winnipeg and The Canadian Press
What's not mentioned here is that the police officer who shot the guy was Metis. Of course, that would make all the claims that the police officer was a rascist asshole go into the shitter.
What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
"A mind is like a parachute. It only works when it is open."
-Sir James Dewar
He continues to move towards the police with a weapon and raises his hand with a weapon in it. Would they rather a policeman had died due to hesitation? Yeesh. What a joke. The word racist is used too often now.
"Though there are only 5 colours, in combination, they can create more hues then can ever be seen" Sun Tzu, The Art of War
I've always been torn on the aboriginal issues in Canada, because I cannot seem to sort out the good from the bad. There is a lot of deep-seated racism on both sides, and for every person who tries hard to escape from the depressing slums that are some reservations and really struggles against the racism that exists in some communities, there is one other who has been told from birth that the white man owes them everything and they shouldn't have to lift a finger save to complain about what a bum deal they're getting.
Note: I'm semi-retired from the board, so if you need something, please be patient.
All bloody day I've had to hear how this nice young man didn't deserve to die.
I also heard from a lot of people that the police didn't try hard enough. They should have tried to pepper spray him again. They should have lunged for his weapon and try to disarm him that way. They should have continued to back away and try negotiate with him longer. They should have tried to shoot the weapon out of his hands(!).
About the smartest one I've heard yet is that they should have shot him in the leg.
"A mind is like a parachute. It only works when it is open."
-Sir James Dewar
Temjin wrote:All bloody day I've had to hear how this nice young man didn't deserve to die.
I also heard from a lot of people that the police didn't try hard enough. They should have tried to pepper spray him again. They should have lunged for his weapon and try to disarm him that way. They should have continued to back away and try negotiate with him longer. They should have tried to shoot the weapon out of his hands(!).
About the smartest one I've heard yet is that they should have shot him in the leg.
Police officers, like soldiers are trained to shoot for the center of your targets mass. IE: the torso. Anything else drastically decreases the chance of putting the man down and ending the conflict. Besides unless your a sniper, trying to hit anything but the center of mass, under combat conditions is damn hard. Especially with a fucking pistol.
Bottom line: the cops tried their best and had to shoot him. Hell if they pepper sprayed him and he didn't go down, shooting him is pretty much the only reasonable thing to do.
M1891/30: A bad day on the range is better then a good day at work.
Temjin wrote:About the smartest one I've heard yet is that they should have shot him in the leg.
I've been told that there's always a very high probability that someone shot in the leg will die, anyway. Or at the least be crippled or lose the leg. Which makes "shooting in the legs" barely any more "humane" than simply aiming for the torso, and more dangerous for the police officer, given the higher probability of missing altogether.
Could anybody more knowledgeable than I confirm or deny this?
WyrdNyrd wrote:
I've been told that there's always a very high probability that someone shot in the leg will die, anyway. Or at the least be crippled or lose the leg. Which makes "shooting in the legs" barely any more "humane" than simply aiming for the torso, and more dangerous for the police officer, given the higher probability of missing altogether.
Could anybody more knowledgeable than I confirm or deny this?
The femoral artery is located in each leg. If it was severed by a gunshot or any other injury, the chances are great that you will either bleed to death, or lose the leg. If I remember correctly it is the largest artery in the body.
M1891/30: A bad day on the range is better then a good day at work.
WyrdNyrd wrote:
I've been told that there's always a very high probability that someone shot in the leg will die, anyway. Or at the least be crippled or lose the leg. Which makes "shooting in the legs" barely any more "humane" than simply aiming for the torso, and more dangerous for the police officer, given the higher probability of missing altogether.
Could anybody more knowledgeable than I confirm or deny this?
The femoral artery is located in each leg. If it was severed by a gunshot or any other injury, the chances are great that you will either bleed to death, or lose the leg. If I remember correctly it is the largest artery in the body.
The severing of the femoral artery will cause death from blood loss in 4 minutes. Just finished my Occupational First Aid. The only thing faster is the Carodic Artery, that's 2 minutes.
"Though there are only 5 colours, in combination, they can create more hues then can ever be seen" Sun Tzu, The Art of War
