Photo by Dan Toulgoet
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. has cleared a Vancouver police officer of any wrongdoing in the shooting last winter of a machete-wielding man claiming to be Jesus while aboard a train at the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station.
The shooting occurred Dec. 19 after the man, who kicked out a window of a SkyTrain car before he was shot, refused to drop an 18-inch long machete when requested by the officer. The officer fired one shot and the man, who had been seen earlier by witnesses reading a bible, fell to the floor. He survived.
Those details are contained in a 17-page report released Monday by the investigations office. The report was completed after evidence was given by Vancouver and transit police officers and dozens of witnesses. Some of the man’s actions were captured on video from transit stations.
“A review of all the evidence collected during this investigation shows that when [the officer] shot the affected person, it would be reasonable for him to believe that the potentially lethal force he invoked was necessary for his self-preservation, or the protection of others as is required to justify that force in accordance with [the Criminal Code of Canada],” the report said.
Christopher Lee Boyda, 37, of Coquitlam was later charged with assault with a weapon and uttering threats in connection with the incident that occurred in the morning rush hour, which came after an overnight snowfall.
The snowy conditions that day were noted as a factor in other officers unable to quickly reach the scene with less lethal police weapons such as a Taser or beanbag shotgun. None of the officers at the scene were equipped with such weapons.
“Had the affected person not broken out of the SkyTrain car, he may have been subjected to a lesser level of force but those options were not present when they might have been used,” said the report, noting the man was shot in the abdomen, with the bullet exiting his back.
The incident began just after 8 a.m. when the Vancouver Police Department received a call regarding a man with a weapon near the Stadium SkyTrain station. A further report indicated he boarded the train and was travelling east, carrying a machete.
Two transit police officers boarded the train at the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station to intercept the man. They told him to drop the knife and “offered their assistance, but he did not comply,” said the report, noting the man yelled at the officers, “F—k you, f—k this. Don’t you know who you’re talking to? I’m Jesus, I’m the king. You will address me as the king.”
The officers and passengers exited the train, leaving the man locked inside the train car.
Three VPD officers arrived at the station shortly before the man kicked out a window in the car. He reached the platform and advanced on the officers. They backed up a set of stairs to the station’s west entrance as the man followed them.
“There was snow and ice,” the report said. “The [officer] could not continue his retreat without risking placing himself or the public in a more uncertain situation. As a police officer, he was under a positive duty to protect the public.”
The report pointed out the case had “the benefit” of video for much of the event and “full cooperation of the officers from the VPD and the transit police.” The notation comes as the independent investigations office awaits the results of legal action it has taken against the VPD in two cases in which officers have refused to comply with investigations.
Two weeks ago, the investigations office filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court requesting that an officer involved in an incident that led to the death of Myles Gray in August 2015 agree to a second interview with investigators.
In another case in November 2016, police shot a man who stabbed an officer after leaving a Canadian Tire store near Rupert Street and Grandview Highway. The man, 38-year-old Daniel Rintoul, died at the scene. The investigations office’s court action requests Police Chief Adam Palmer be forced to compel seven of his officers to cooperate with the investigation.
