UPDATED: “There were no good options” – Lethbridge Police Officer will not be charged after running over deer on Scenic Drive

According to ASIRT’s findings, presented June 26 in Lethbridge, the option to use a firearm on the critically injured animal was too risky given the location of the injured deer, nearby homes, apartments and the busy traffic conditions. ASIRT Legal Counsel Greg Guelot said the investigation involved consideration of the Criminal Code, the Wildlife Act, and the Animal Protection Act.

The only options available to the officer included cutting the young mule deer’s throat with his tactical knife, killing it with his baton or a tire iron, or running it over with his vehicle.

Guelot went on to say that the unexpected or unintended consequences of the officer’s actions do not necessarily make his original decision unreasonable.

Case History

On Jan. 5, 2019, just after 10 p.m. the LPS received a call about an injured deer on Scenic Drive near 16 Ave. S. A young mule deer weighing about 60-70 lbs had been badly injured in the northbound lane. Another call about the deer came in to police a short time later. Guelot explained that when the first call came in, because it had been a busy night, no officer was available to attend the scene.

An officer was able to respond around 10:30 p.m. in his dodge pickup truck. He soon determined that the animal needed to be euthanized. A nearly 15 minute cell phone video was recorded by a bystander who had initially seen the collision between the deer and a vehicle and had come back to the scene.

The video shows the officer repeatedly running over the deer, and even parking on top of it for a short period of time. The animal cries out in pain several times and even attempts to get up. ASIRT acknowledges that the emotional impact of the video “cannot be understated,” and that it is “profoundly distressing and heartbreaking to watch.”

After about 15 minutes, the animal dies, and the officer can be seen getting out of his truck and dragging it off to the side of the road.

The video prompted outrage from viewers around the world who questioned whether the officer had chosen the correct method of killing the injured animal.

Officer’s Actions

According to a statement the officer who ran over the deer gave to ASIRT, and from information from the Lethbridge Police Service, there was no established protocol or practice that required authorizing or having an officer contact a veterinary service. The officer, had however, used his firearm on previous occasions to kill wildlife like deer.

The officer also did not call a supervisor, nor did he make any attempt to contact Fish and Wildlife officials at the time. It was later determined that the closest wildlife officer was in Cardston that night, a nearly one-hour drive from Lethbridge.

“The officer would have had a duty to call a supervisor if he used a firearm, or if he wanted to use a firearm,” said ASIRT Executive Director Susan Hughson. He did not have an obligation or duty to call his supervisor otherwise, she added.

“People are going to find a different line in the sand or balance on when they’re going to say what they should do. So, does the officer spend an hour trying to track people down, or get advice – while the deer is lying on the ground suffering. How long is too long? So, we have an officer who felt he could dispatch the animal, and he did, within about 15 minutes.”

“The issue is what options did he have, and did he reasonably consider those options? And he did,” she explained.

Hughson also cited a case back in Nov. 2015 in which York Regional Police responded to a call about an injured deer. A decision was made to euthanize the deer with a firearm. According to the report:

“People in the vicinity were moved to what was believed to be a safe distance away and the roadway was temporarily blocked to prevent traffic through the area. Even with these safeguards, when an officer shot the deer, the bullet went though the deer, ricocheted off the cement sidewalk and struck a 78-year-old man in the head, lodging between the skin and the skull above one of his ears.”

In the Lethbridge case, Hughson said, “it was a cement roadway, with a cement median, with the deer’s head at an angle over the median. So, the firearm was not the option in this case.”

The ASIRT report also cites officer safety as a concern, particularly since the deer was still actively trying to get away, and could have seriously injured him with its front hooves.

Recommendations

Hughson said it isn’t ASIRT’s normal practice to make recommendations to try to ensure something like this does not happen again. However, both she and the Crown believe that the case is an opportunity to look at how law enforcement could or should handle injured wildlife in the future -like possibly contacting a local veterinarian if Fish and Wildlife officers are not available.

“So, while there is no protocol in place now, I think everybody would agree that if a vet could euthanize the animal using a drug of some sort or a tranquilizer of some sort, that would have been better than a police vehicle or a tire iron or a tactical knife.”

Lethbridge Police Chief’s reaction

Lethbridge Police Chief Rob Davis read a short statement on ASIRT’s findings as well, although as of Wednesday evening, he had not yet read the entire report.

“I want to than ASIRT for the expediency with which they handled this investigation and their final conclusion. It’s very quick for ASIRT to turn it around in the timeframe that they did. I also want to acknowledge Fish and Wildlife as well as the SPCA who had an expert as part of the team, and a firearms expert that assisted ASIRT in their investigation.”

Davis also took into consideration ASIRT’s unofficial recommendation to review their protocols -or lack thereof- on how to euthanize wildlife.

“If there’s an opportunity to do a review of our policy and see if there’s some best practices, but also balancing what’s practical given the size of our city and location.”

Given the attention the incident has received, Davis said he was thankful to have an objective body to handle the investigation.

“I can’t operate in the emotional realm. I have to deal with the facts.That’s why ASIRT came into investigate it based on the facts…the facts are showing the officer didn’t do anything wrong.

And while he acknowledged the emotional reaction many people have had to the deer’s death, he also pondered why there hasn’t been the same level of concern or attention to other cases.

“I get the emotional attachment, but when you think of some of the other challenges going on in the city and Alberta, and some of the violence and tragic deaths – if the public would unite and unify when we have a murder or beating that goes unsolved, that would be a far step for humanity.”

by Lara Fominoff

UPDATED: “There were no good options” – Lethbridge Police Officer will not be charged after running over deer on Scenic Drive

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