Rodney Levi's death a homicide, jury decides
CBC
Rodney Levi's death in a police shooting last year was a homicide, a jury at a coroner's inquest in Miramichi has concluded.
The five jurors issued recommendations under three areas: Indigenous policing, mental health, and for the RCMP.
Those include making a mobile health crisis response unit 24-hour service, having detox centres and mental health centres on First Nations, requiring RCMP cadets undergo mandatory Indigenous sensitivity training, requiring Taser training, and expediting the rollout of body cameras.
The jury began deliberations Thursday morning, stopped overnight and resumed for only a few minutes Friday morning before reaching a decision.
Levi, of Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation on the Miramichi River, was shot twice in the chest by RCMP Const. Scott Hait outside the residence of a church pastor on June 12, 2020, near Sunny Corner.
Witnesses told the inquest Levi had two kitchen knives that he wouldn't release, even after being Tasered three times by Const. Justin Napke. The officers testified Levi moved toward Hait, who then shot Levi while the two were a few feet apart.
The inquest, a quasi-judicial proceeding with evidence and witness testimony, heard from more than two dozen people since it began Sept. 28.