By Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
The death of Matthew Dumas, 18, on a snow-covered road in the city's tough north end was a direct result of his own actions, provincial court Judge Mary Curtis wrote in an inquest report released Tuesday.
"I find nothing in the evidence to support the claim that Mr. Dumas's death was a result of racism. Mr. Dumas's behaviour and choices drove the events which led to his death."
The findings are unlikely to soothe tensions in a city where native leaders say young aboriginal men are frequently stopped and questioned because of their skin colour.
"Would they be chasing this boy down in this particular instance if he wasn't an aboriginal? The fact is, they wouldn't have," said Donald Worme, lawyer for the Dumas family.
"(Racism) does underpin and does provide a certain attitude that governs the actions even of peace officers. You may not come out and say that Indians are necessarily bad people, but you have preconceived notions perhaps of who they are, what they are."
On
Instead of co-operating with police, Dumas shoved Det. Jon Mateychuk to the ground and ran away, the inquest was told. Mateychuk gave chase and fought to subdue Dumas.
Const. Dennis Gburek saw the fight and approached. He noticed that Dumas had some sort of weapon in his hand and pulled out his gun.
Dumas, armed with a screwdriver, then started walking quickly toward Gburek, the inquest heard. The officer started backing away and warned Dumas repeatedly to drop his weapon or he would be shot.
Mateychuk pepper-sprayed Dumas with no apparent effect, and when Dumas got within two metres of Gburek, the constable pulled the trigger.
At the inquest, Worme compared what happened to the 1988 police shooting of J.J. Harper, an unarmed aboriginal man whose death helped prompt a judicial inquiry into how aboriginals are treated by the justice system.
But unlike Harper's death, the Dumas shooting was witnessed by several civilians, most of whom backed up police statements that he was aggressive and came at officers with his screwdriver.
The inquest was also told by an RCMP weapons expert that officers are trained to be prepared to shoot armed suspects that get within seven metres of them - much further than the distance at which Dumas was shot.
"Mr. Dumas had choices along the way. Why he chose the path he did will remain an unanswered question," Curtis wrote in her conclusion.
The Winnipeg Police Service welcomed the report, but added the shooting has affected people on both sides, including the Dumas family and Gburek.
Family members and the Southern Chiefs Organization - the aboriginal group that helped them through the inquest - declined to comment until Thursday.
The Dumas shooting was one of a handful of cases fuelling the strain between city police and the aboriginal community.
Native leaders spoke out again this summer after the deaths of two men less than two weeks apart. Michael Langan, 17, died after being Tasered by officers and 26-year-old Craig McDougall, who was a distant relative of Harper's, was shot. Police said both men were brandishing knives, but the explanation has done little to quell the outrage.
After McDougall's shooting in early August, Grand Chief Morris Swan-Shannacappo of the Southern Chiefs Organization, called police the "No. 1 gang in the city" and said officers appeared to be on "killing sprees."
Worme would not speculate on whether the Dumas family might take further legal action. He said the inquest was flawed because, under its limited mandate, it only looked at the specific events of the day of the shooting.
"There was simply not the ability or the personnel, perhaps, to assist the judge in identifying the insidious nature of racism.
"If she expected that someone might step forward - a police officer perhaps - and say, 'Oh yes, by the way, I hate Indians,' that's never going to happen."