Officer use of lethal force in Penticton not criminal: B.C. police watchdog

Photo: Casey Richardson

A Penticton Mountie was found to be acting within the lawful bounds of his duties last October when he used lethal force to subdue a man who lunged at him with a knife, B.C.'s police watchdog says.

A Penticton Mountie was acting within the lawful bounds of his duties last October when he used lethal force to subdue a man who'd been acting erratically, B.C.'s police watchdog says.

"There is no evidence of anything done by (the officer) to provoke what witnesses described as an almost immediate assault by the (deceased) on (the officer)," the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. said in a report issued Friday.

"That assault, which became a pursuit of (the officer) with a potentially deadly weapon at very close range, clearly presented a threat of death or grievous bodily harm to (the officer)"

In turn, his use of lethal force was "justified and lawful," the watchdog said.

It was Oct, 22, 2024 when multiple 911 calls were made about a man acting erratically and waving a knife around on Government Street near Penticton's hospital, the IIO said.

The man, since identified by family as Matthew Murray, 33, was walking down the street when the police officer pulled over.

The officer, who is not named in the report exited his vehicle and Murray advanced toward him, and a "brief scuffle took place."

Murray, the IIO said, was seen taking a knife from "inside his coat and repeatedly making slashing and stabbing motions toward the officer with the knife, wounding the officer in the hand while doing so."

The watchdog report indicates that the officer attempted to get back into his vehicle, was followed by Murray, then drew his service pistol.

Much of this interaction was visible with the Watchguard dash camera system on the police vehicle.

The IIO report indicates that the officer discharged multiple rounds from his pistol, and that "despite being struck visibly several times by bullets" the pursuit of the officer continued, out of the video frame, toward the sidewalk.

When he collapsed, more police and paramedics arrived. He was declared dead at the hospital.

In the immediate aftermath of the death, Murray's family raised concerns about the force used to subdue the usually peaceful man who was "quiet, enjoyed video games and had a small group of friends."

Murray's brother Seth said he hoped the investigation will make clear why avenues other than shooting his brother, who he believes was suffering from mental health issues, were not explored.

"Don't they have tasers, or martial arts (training) things like that, where they could have probably changed the outcome of this scenario?" he said.

"I want to know if the police had enough time to assess this before, could they have done it differently where they brought a social worker up? Because I think that's what we're supposed to be doing when we have teams like that, as far as to understand."

That was not explored in the report.

Penticton recently started their Integrated Crisis Response Team, which sees trained psychiatric nurses paired with RCMP officers in order to better respond to issues that involve mental health crises, and connect individuals to local services.

—with files from Casey Richardson