Witness shares video of fatal police incident in Campbell River
CTV
The quick actions of a Campbell River man may provide investigators with their best insight into the death of an individual on Saturday after the person had a run-in with police officers.
The witness, who doesn't want to be identified, heard a commotion and then saw a man running by his apartment complex. The man was pointing a gun behind his back towards a pursuing police officer.
"He was running with a gun in his hand, didn't look like he knew what he was doing, it looked like he was trying to pull up his pants and shoot at the same time," the witness says.
He says the person fired a shot and was then struck by an RCMP cruiser coming from the opposite direction.
"The guy fumbled and hit the ground, hit the fence behind my place there, it all happened so fast, (the cop) got out right away and just shot the guy a couple of times," the witness says.
The witness then grabbed his cell phone and began documenting the actions of the officers and the man on the ground.
The video lasts for just over three minutes and shows police officers struggling with the man, who is face-down as they try to put handcuffs on him. One officer can be heard asking the person "are you shot?"
The suspect was then lifted to his feet and put into the back of a police cruiser.
"You could hear him in the video he's moaning and groaning, they had no reason to think he's going to run, they didn't have to put him in the back of the cruiser," the witness says.
