An Alberta Serious Incident Response Team investigation has found that two officers were justified in firing their weapons during a traffic stop in Whitecourt on Boxing Day 2014. As an officer spoke to the driver, he put the truck into reverse, leading the mountie to warn that he’d shoot.
Two other officers were inspecting a steel bar sticking out from the trailer hitch, and when the man backed up, they were sent scrambling to avoid being crushed. Two police fired shots, but stopped seconds later when they saw the third hadn’t been hit.
The truck crashed into two police cruisers before speeding off, but it was found in a residential area later. The man and woman inside had both been hit but didn’t suffer serious injuries. They were both under the influence of meth and it turns out the truck had been stolen.
ASIRT Executive Director Susan D. Hughson has determined that none of the officers did anything criminal.
“The driver’s actions placed two police officers at immediate risk of death or grievous bodily harm and the subject officers were entitled to use reasonable, in this case potentially lethal, force to protect.”
At the time, 30 year old Luke Louis Kock of no fixed address was charged with three counts of assaulting an officer with a weapon (vehicle), fleeing from police, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, and possession of stolen property over $5000.