Three days of municipal anxiety related to a series of three armed robberies over three days ended in about three seconds with the death of a suspect in a Railway Avenue shooting on a cold Jan. 10, 2011.
According to testimony and video from an RCMP cruiser-mounted camera at a mandatory fatality inquiry in Calgary Provincial Court, Feb. 6, two RCMP members reacted with deadly force when a suspect pointed a weapon at a constable during a traffic stop.
At about 4 p.m. on Jan. 10, Constable Sanjay Sachdev and Corporal Chris Blandford teamed up to stop Steven Boucher, 63, the suspect in three armed robberies on Jan. 8, 9 and 10 on Railway Avenue and Gateway Street.
The robberies had occurred at Siesta Spa, Oak Barrel Liquor Store, respectively, and Expressions Nails (Jan. 10), the same afternoon as the shooting.
Cut off by cruisers driven by the two RCMP members, Boucher stopped his car, sat inside for some moments, then opened the door, stepped out onto Railway Avenue and, according to both the two members and witnesses, turned to face Sachdev, raised a gun from his side and aimed it at the constable.
Sachdev and Blandford reacted immediately by firing 11 rounds at Boucher, three of which struck him, two in the chest and one in the leg. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
It was later revealed that Boucher was armed with a replica Smith & Wesson handgun, but in the split second that he raised it and pointed it at Sachdev, “I released my pistol, brought it up on target and, fearing he was going to kill me, I engaged him,” said Sachdev at the inquiry.
At virtually the same instant, Blandford, who had also stepped out of his car to, like Sachdev, order Boucher to get in his car or get on the ground, or put down his weapon, fired.
“It was the most surreal moment of my life,” said Blandford, who had to compose himself a couple of times as he gave testimony of the fatal shooting. “His arm came up extended and in his hand was a gun. I fixated on that gun, it could have been a bazooka it looked so large. He had his finger on the trigger and I thought constable Sachdev’s life was in danger and I fired three rounds at centre mass.”
Just moments before, said Blandford, he and Boucher had stared at each other through their windshields, as the corporal’s car was facing the front of Boucher’s. “There was no emotion on his face, he just looked at me.”
When Boucher and Blandford stepped out of their respective cars, they continued to look at each other, but then Boucher turned to his left, raised his arm with the replica handgun in it and faced Sachdev at the rear of his vehicle.
Even after being shot and falling to the ground, when approached by RCMP members to handcuff him, Boucher showed no emotion, said the corporal. Boucher’s weapon had fallen under his grey Ford Probe, so members were unsure of its location.
EMS was quickly called. Blandford, who didn’t see any wounds at the time, had taken Boucher’s pulse twice (in the video, Blandford could be heard saying, “I still have a pulse”), then he was removed from the scene and pronounced dead in hospital later. “I didn’t know if we hit him, or if he just fell down.
“Mr. Boucher showed no emotion and never said a word, even when he was on the ground hit by three rounds.
“It was unbelievable. I’ve had situations in my career where I was faced with armed people, but this was the first time a gun was produced. I had no doubt that at that point in time, Constable Sachdev’s life was in danger.”
Sachdev had fired as he was trying to move to the rear of his car for cover. The two were about a car length apart, he estimated, when he fired. Asked by Alberta Justice inquiry counsel Jo-Anne Burgess if he thought he was at risk when Boucher turned toward him, Sachdev replied, “yes, I thought he was going to kill me. I drew my firearm to deliver rounds directly at Mr. Boucher to ensure he did not kill me or anyone else.
“He was pointing directly at me, my only thought was to engage him so I did not die.”
Asked by Burgess if he thought Boucher’s actions were related to a subject precipitated homicide (also known as suicide by cop), Sachdev replied yes. “It could be. He brought a gun that couldn’t be differentiated from a real one.”
Asked by Burgess if, in hindsight, he thought anything could have been done differently, Sachdev replied, “not at all.”
That was the finding of ASIRT (Alberta Serious Incident Response Team), which found no wrongdoings by the RCMP on March 25, 2012.
The members’ actions were in keeping with the RCMP’s use of deadly force, they both said – for situations where they themselves, or a fellow member or members of the public’s life were endangered or subject to grievous bodily harm.
Canmore Staff Sgt. Brad Freer (then a sergeant on light duty and a witness of the shooting), agreed. Freer, also a firearms and tactics instructor, happened to be parked at the intersection of Railway Avenue and Gateway Street when the incident occurred. He was en route to see his doctor.
When he saw Boucher stop, then step out of his vehicle and raise his arm toward Sachdev, a frustrated Freer said he had instinctively reached for his own sidearm, which he didn’t have with him, and yelled, “gun, gun, gun” in his vehicle as his training kicked in and he tried to get his window down.
“I remember the first round (Sachdev’s) hitting the subject and him flinching and leaning forward. I knew he’d been struck by at least one round. The three or four seconds seemed an eternity.”
At that time, said Freer, he thought the subject was deceased and went into operational mode and took control of the scene to have it contained.
Freer as well, from 15 or 20 metres away, said he believed Boucher’s handgun to be real. Once the scene was safe, he said, he allowed EMS to attend to Boucher.
In his post-incident statement, Freer had described the members’ actions during the incident as “textbook.”
Asked by Burgess if the RCMP’s training is to shoot a round or two, then reassess the situation, Freer said training calls for a member to “shoot until the threat is stopped, then you re-assess.”
Judge Peter Barley’s inquiry findings will be released at a later date.
