Trying to get a Nanaimo man under physical control by striking him with a police baton was like using a toothpick on a grizzly bear, a former RCMP officer testified Wednesday at the coroner’s inquest into the death of Aaron Prince.
Staff Sgt. Marc Pelletier was one of two officers who shot and killed Prince on the morning of Oct. 12, 2017.
Pelletier, now retired after 30 years on the force, and Cpl. Ryan Rooke, now acting detachment commander in Port Hardy, took the stand and described their attempts to arrest Prince, who had stabbed himself in the chest and was running in and out of traffic on the inland Island Highway.
The inquest is mandatory under the B.C. Coroners Act, because Prince, a 35-year-old heavy machinery operator, was being detained by police at the time of his death. It will try to determine the facts related to his death and make recommendations to prevent deaths in similar circumstances.
When the call came in, Rooke had to drive 15 to 20 minutes to the scene. Pelletier was in a police vehicle behind him and they switched off lights and sirens as they approached Prince and his friend, David Poole, who were on the side of the highway.
The officers had been advised Prince was calming down. He was standing and staring at the ground, Rooke recalled.
Pelletier walked up and started speaking to Prince, telling him the ambulance was just down the road but they had to handcuff him before the paramedics could come and look after him.
“It became pretty clear to me he was in some sort of psychosis. He wasn’t communicating with us. He wasn’t talking. He was kind of mumbling,” said Rooke.
Pelletier put a handcuff on Prince’s left arm and Rooke took hold of Prince’s right arm and tried to put it behind his back.
“But he was a big, big stocky guy and I couldn’t get his arm behind his back,” said Rooke.
The two officers tried to knock Prince to the ground to get the handcuffs on. That’s when the fight really started, said Rooke.
“I’m six-foot, seven-inches and 250 pounds and Staff Sgt Pelletier is not as big. But we were both on top of him and he just stood up… I don’t know how to describe it. He was so strong,” Rooke testified.
Prince started coming at Rooke, knocked him to the ground, then was on top of him, ripping at the strap on his gun holster, the officer said.
e rolled on his side so the gun was against the ground and yelled: “He’s trying to get my gun.” During the struggle, his arm got caught by Prince’s leg, he said.
“He started punching me. I’ve never been knocked unconscious before but as he was driving down into me, I saw a flash of light,” Rooke testified.
Pelletier was hitting Prince with his baton with all his force and it had no effect, he said.
“I heard Staff Sgt. Pelletier say: ‘Get off him or I will shoot you. Just say the word Ryan and I will blow him away.’ And I didn’t want it to go that way…. I didn’t say anything because I was worried I’d say the wrong thing,” testified Rooke.
He got his hand free and started blocking the punches. Then he heard two gunshots. Rooke didn’t know if the shots had gone into the ground or if Prince had been shot, but Prince stopped.
Rooke said he was able to get his Taser out but Prince kept grabbing it. The Taser seemed to have a little bit of an effect on Prince, who stood up and ran over to Pelletier.
At that point, Pelletier yelled: “He’s trying to grab my gun,” said Rooke, who looked over and saw the two men in a tug of war for the gun.
“I know from my training, as soon as he gets the gun, it’s too late and he could shoot me. He could shoot Staff Sgt. Pelletier…. And I relied on my training and I fired. Mr. Prince ran towards me and he just stared at me. This was maybe a couple of seconds and I remember thinking: ‘What do I do now? How the f—- do I end this,” said Rooke.
At that point, Prince fell backward and Rooke radioed for the ambulance.
The officer told inquest counsel Christopher Godwin he had never used force — even pepper spray — in his 10 years as a police officer. Rooke learned from the autopsy that he had fired three shots.
Pelletier testified that when they arrived and he tried to handcuff Prince, Prince raised his arm and looked at the handcuff like: “Handcuff? None of that.”
“He was swinging me around like a rag doll,” said Pelletier. “He literally picks me up and shoots me down the embankment. I land on the rocks down below… By the time I get up, he’s on top of Rooke and just pounding. He’s pounding him. I’m like ‘Holy sh—.’ ”
Pelletier said he got out his baton and started hitting Prince.
“It was like using a toothpick on a grizzly bear. No effect whatsoever.”
When Rooke called out that Prince was going for his gun, Pelletier fired two rounds into the dirt.
“He pops up, looks at me. I have my gun pointing at him and tell him: ‘Get off him.’ ”
Pelletier testified that when he pepper-sprayed Prince, Prince got off Rooke and jumped on top of him. Pelletier was on the ground and Prince was punching him in the face.
“He sees my gun. He just grabs it. He’s overpowering me. He’s as strong as a bull. I am able to get my gun underneath me as he’s punching me and I shoot.”
“Why did you shoot him?” asked Godwin.
“I was going to die,” Pelletier replied. “He was going to get my gun, shoot me, shoot Rooke, probably shoot his friend, then shoot himself. I feared for my life. I was done.”
Pelletier testified that he had never discharged his firearm before.
The coroner’s jury has already heard that Prince had been brought into the emergency department in Nanaimo by the RCMP three days before his death.
The triage notes of his visit said his girlfriend had called police because he was seeing things that weren’t there. Prince was assessed and released. His toxicology screen tested positive for cocaine.
