Coroner says police need more stun guns

CTV Montreal: Fatal shooting could have been avoid A coroner's report into the fatal shooting of a homeless man said it could have been avoided with proper use of tasers, instead of guns.

Quebec Coroner Jean Brochu says that Montreal police needs more stun guns.

It was one of four recommendations Brochu made in his report on the death of Farshad Mohammadi, a 34-year-old homeless man shot dead by police in the Bonaventure metro in January of 2012.

“They showed him the door and he said, ‘No sleep, no sleep, no sleep.’ He seemed to understand that he was not allowed to sleep there,” said Brochu.

"I recommend that Montreal police equip more agents with intermediary arms, such as stun guns, to assure policy of rigorous usage as well as the obligation to call an ambulance once the possibility to use a Taser is raised," said the coroner in his report.

Brochu also suggested that social agencies offer more follow-ups to individuals with known mental illness or substance abuse problems.

He also recommended an increased number of mobile units with specialists to help with that same clientele. And he also recommended that dealing with such scenarios be better taught at police training school.

Mohammadi died in January 2012 and was the third mentally ill man killed by Montreal police in three years. Last February, Alain Magloire was shot to death after knocking out a window with a hammer. In 2011, Mario Hamel was shot in a police foot chase that also left a nearby cyclist dead from a police bullet

Better training to recognize mental illness could have saved Mohammadi's life, said Brochu.

“Could they have just stopped to say, ‘Well what's going on? Are we right in just insisting that he leaves?’” he said, adding that Mohammadi was pursued aggressively through the Bonaventure Metro station. Brochu said that would have been the perfect time to use a Taser.

He believes Montreal police should have one Taser per patrol car downtown.

Montreal police said they didn’t wait for the recommendations to act -- they recently bought 12 more Tasers and have added specially trained teams better able to deal with mentally ill people and the homeless population.

Police currently have 70 Tasers and 290 officers trained to use them.

A need for more outreach: psychiatrist

Police need to use a more subtle approach, said CHUM psychiatrist Olivier Farmer.

“Someone who is in a psychotic state is not going to respond well to very rigid instructions,” he explained.

The coroner also wants more funding for outreach programs, like the Prism program at Montreal’s Old Brewery Mission.

The 14-bed program offers a semi-private space, a bed and a locker for six weeks.

“Theywant this -- they really want this -- and so that's our hook. We really provide a calm space and the calm space in itself is a great treatment for most mental health disorders,” said Farmer.

The program costs $190,000 per year to run but it's at risk: The new Quebec government has yet to re-fund it

“Here's a solution. They are tight for cash here's a very affordable option,” said Matthew Pearce, director general of the Old Brewery Mission.

Coroner’s report of Mohammadi shooting

Brochu’s report also contained a description of events as reported by the officer who shot Mohammadi dead.

Here is an unofficial translation of the officer's account as published in Brochu's report:

Having understood that he has no identification papers, I asked him verbally to tell me his name. He answered, “My name is nobody.” (in English) I answered that he has no choice, he has to identify himself because he has committed an infraction. That’s when he said, “I will kill you there” pointing to the place where the other officer was standing. This threat was so gratuitous that I thought I misunderstood. I asked him to repeat but he did not. I asked him “are you threatening us?” He answered, “no, sleeping, sleeping” (as in can’t sleep).

I then realized that he was still incoherent. I decided not follow up on the death threat because he did not withdraw the threat.

He got up and walked about six steps, pivoted 180 degrees and took a step towards me with his right hand in front. I saw he had a furrowed brow and he was showing his teeth. He bent his legs a little as if to lower his centre of gravity. He pivoted again and continued onwards.

I took out my nightstick because the individual just gave me clear signs of a precursor to attack. At this time I believed that the individual would attack me barehanded. That’s why I took out the truncheon.

The time it took me to grab my baton, he turned again to face me and moved his right hand from right to left. I understood again that it was not a body to body barehanded conflict but a knife attack.

He moved towards me. I tried to hit his leg with my stick but missed the target. The man then took that opportunity to advance towards me with the knife, which missed and made me trip on my back. Once on the ground the man was atop of me and gave me several hits with the blade on the thorax. The hits started again on my chest and then towards the neck. At that moment I was convinced that I was the victim of a knife attack and I was very conscious that my neck had no protection and that one wrong move could lead to my death within seconds. So when I tried to get out of this position I felt the blade penetrating the skin on my head, I was very scared for my life. I was able to get up, and turned the back of the aggressor in about one second.

(The officer's partner then hit Farshad Mohammadi several times around the head with his baton.)

Once standing, I took my defensive position with my baton against the aggressor. The man leaped towards me again. I tried to hit him once again with my truncheon but missed. This time, unfortunately, the motion made me lose my baton. The man changed direction and then picked it up. With my baton in hand as well as the knife in the other, the man started walking on the bridge on the mezzanine with his back turned.

I took the time to take my radio and give the 10-7 . I said “I’ve been stabbed and I need an ambulance” and I gave a description of the individual on air.

Soon after, I decided to take my firearm and point it at the individual while taking care to put my index finger to the side so as not to shoot accidentally. The man walked one step towards the end of the metro station near the Cathedrale exit.

In holding my gun I noticed that my index finger on the left hand was bleeding. I saw that my glove had been cut and blood was flowing. I knew that I had been injured in the head and believe that I’ve been hurt in the abdomen as well. At that time I knew that I absolutely had to neutralize this man who is a threat to life to other people along his path.

I feared that he would hurt a citizen or a police officer who will recognize him and suffer a same fate as me. It was clear that this man constituted a threat and must be neutralized.

Along with my partner we followed he man several meters and I noticed immediately that there are many people on the mezzanine who were directly in our shooting lane.

I informed my partner and he assured me that he would not shoot under those conditions.

Suddenly I screamed at the individual to hit the ground in saying, “down, down get down, down” The man continued along without stopping. Seeing that there was no result, I decided to cry out to citizens to move and get out of the corridor. But there were still new people coming in preventing us from neutralizing the threat.

During this time the man threw the baton on the ground.

The man came to the end of the mezzanine and turned right towards the escalator leading to the Cathedrale exit. At that moment nobody else was in the shooting lane, I said to my partner, “Now we have no other choice we’ll have to shoot him.” My partner replied, “Yes but he’s still got his back turned.”

After this short discussion, the man turned right and started going up the stairs. He left my line of view for a second as we reached the bottom of the escalator. It should be noted that up to then we had not lost him from view and nobody else was on the escalator when I got to the bottom a second later.

From the bottom I noticed that the concrete escalator is parallel to the round staircase and he was halfway up. Nobody else was on those stairs. I saw the wall at the end, at the top is on an angle and bullets could ricochet. if I missed the target. I screamed again “Get down, get down stop” several times. He continued to walk up the stairs. I decided to stay at the bottom to be the most stable because I was giving him to the top of the stairs to stop or else I’d have to shoot before he could turn the corner and take the last escalator before leaving outside. That set of stairs was on many levels and many different lengths, stairs that turn 180 degrees and finish by going to the outside. I knew that the if individual entered this section it’d be extremely difficult to act.

In this case we would have to move up step-by-step, quietly ensuring that the man does was not waiting behind a corner if the path was free when we got up there the man would probably get away.

He walked the last step and turned left to then took the next flight of stairs. I assured myself that there was nobody else around and I shot twice. The man stopped but did not fall.

I didn’t know if he was hit or just surprised. I yelled one last time, “get down” but he still didn’t’ react. I shot one more time and saw the man fall.

We then ran up the stairs and I informed the Prao that the man was his hit and we need an ambulance.

Once on top the man was on the ground lying on his chest, lightly on his right side, he’s either unconscious or dead. He had a knife, like a box cutter with a yellow handle covered in blood near his hand.

The other police officer kicked the weapon to get it away from the injured person.

As for me, I was scared he’d regain consciousness and hurt others so I handcuffed him behind his back and he offered no resistance.

At that time people started coming from the outside so I decided to stop them from going down, so I could protect he scene. I looked at my partner and I understand that he’ll stay with the injured man. The Prao asked us our exact location to send ambulances. Luckily the first officer arrived from the outside. I asked her which exit she took. She replied, “The Cathedrale exit.” I immediately gave that information on Channel 6, the police officer said, “I think you’d better sit down.”