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Jury rules Whitstone’s manner of death “undetermined”

Choices included homicide and suicide

The jury in the inquest into the death of Brydon Whitstone has ruled the manner of his death was “undetermined.”

That is the key finding from the jury following deliberations Friday in Battleford.

In their decision, the jury determined the identity of the deceased was Brydon Bryce Whitstone. The date and time of death was determined to be 21:38 on Oct 21, 2017. The place of death was North Battleford, in an ambulance en route to Battlefords Union Hospital. The cause of death was two gunshot wounds. The manner of death was “undetermined.”

The above are the five conclusions the jury was tasked with determining.

The jury was also asked to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future. The sole recommendation made by the jury was directed to the RCMP: use of a Taser gun or other intervention to immobilize or stun the suspect first prior to the use of a gun.

The key question the jury had was on the question of the manner of death, and in particular whether it was a homicide or suicide.

While the evidence strongly pointed to a homicide, with Cst. Jerry Abbott firing the two shots that killed Whitstone, the suicide issue had also come up. Testimony put forward by RCMP early in the week suggested Whitstone might have willed his own death – “suicide by cop” – by pretending to look for a weapon, leaving officers with no choice but to fire on him.

This notion was based on a statement to police given by Amanda Wahobin, the passenger in the vehicle Whitstone was driving. But on the witness stand Tuesday, Wahobin seemed less willing to commit to that earlier statement.

A total of 16 witnesses were called during the inquest, with testimony wrapping up Thursday afternoon. Friday began with the replaying of the video taken from Cst. Matthew McKay’s vehicle of the police chase that ensued.

Coroner Robert Kennedy then began his final instructions to the jury. The jury had five questions to answer: to establish the name of the deceased, the date and time of death, the place of death, the cause of death, and by what means the deceased died. The jury had five choices to determine the manner of death: natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. The jury was also asked to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

Shortly before 11 a.m., the jury was sequestered and deliberated until they returned with their findings at around 2:40 p.m.

Lawyers for the Whitstone family were unsatisfied by the verdict.

"What we've seen over the past week gives us pause over the investigation into the shooting of Brydon Whitstone," said lawyer Stephanie Lavallee. "We are uncertain how the ministry of Justice could have had confidence in this investigation and the process that was followed. It appears that the investigation only looked for evidence to support the story of Cst. Abbott. Instead the testimony that we heard this week was that half of the officers on the scene saw or participated in a physical engagement with Brydon before he was shot."

Lavallee said these investigations "need to be done by truly independent investigators, because police investigating police under the shroud of secrecy does not promote public confidence and transparency." She asked that the investigation "be re-opened and done by actual objective non-police investigators."

While not happy with the "undetermined" decision, Whitstone family lawyer Mark Ebert said they were "happy that the recommendation spoke to the use of non-lethal measures" in making arrests.

Brydon's mother Dorothy Laboucane was in tears when speaking to reporters after the verdict. "There never will be closure," she said. She also pledged to continue the fight.

"We're just going to continue with everything, to fight for my son. I'm not going to let nothing or nobody stop me."

Laboucane also admitted she had been afraid the jury would rule it was a suicide.

"I know my son, he wasn't like that," said Laboucane. "He would much rather talk somebody out of killing themselves, ending their lives, giving them some hope and something to live for. And that's how my son was, there was always found something to live for."

Laboucane also expressed dissatisfaction with the decisions made by police that night.

"They could have stopped the car long before it ended up where it did. They could have used strips, spikes, whatever you call them. They could have done that, long before, but no. But they didn't. They chose to hunt him down, basically."  

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Vice-Chief Dutch Lerat said they stood behind the family in "their call for more transparency, for more accountability when it comes to our law enforcement agencies and those who are there to protect us as citizens, not only us, but also our children."

Lerat added the FSIN would review what had happened and would hold a press conference in Saskatoon next week, at which time they would comment more on what they would do going forward.

There was no immediate comments from RCMP representatives at the court house, but the indication was they would issue a statement in a news release in response to the jury findings.

Just after 4:30 p.m., the RCMP released the following statement:

The Saskatchewan RCMP offers their condolences to the family of Brydon Whitstone. It is truly unfortunate that the sequence of events that occurred on Oct. 21., 2017 ultimately resulted in Mr. Whitstone’s death.

As the provincial police service in Saskatchewan we are accountable to the people we serve. Public trust is critical as we work to keep our communities safe. Transparency for public organizations like ours is critical. This is why the processes that have looked into what took place the evening Mr. Whitstone died are so important.

Today saw the conclusion of the Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Brydon Whitstone when the Coroner’s Jury provided their recommendation to the Chief Coroner. The Saskatchewan RCMP is grateful to the jury members for their work this week and extends a sincere thank you for their efforts. It is not easy to participate in processes like this and their work plays a critical role in ensuring transparency and accountability in incidents where someone has lost their life.

The RCMP will examine the recommendation coming out of the Coroner’s Inquest and provide a response to the Chief Coroner. Our written response to the recommendation will then become part of the public record available on the Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service website.

It is important to remember that no matter what the investigations into this incident have determined, a young man lost his life. His family and friends are grieving his loss. The Saskatchewan RCMP offers condolences to the family of Brydon Whitstone.