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3 Mounties plead not guilty to attempted obstruction of justice in Indigenous man's death

Three RCMP officers charged after the death of an Indigenous man in police custody in Prince George in 2017 have pleaded not guilty to attempting to obstruct justice. Two other officers have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

3 RCMP officers charged following Dale Culver's death in police custody

Betsy Trumpener · CBC News ·
A youthful-looking Indigenous man with a sideways baseball cap smiles wide at the camera in front of a red velour background.
Dale Culver was the father of three children. He died in RCMP custody in Prince George in 2017. (Submitted by Tracy Speed)

Three RCMP officers have pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to obstruct justice in the death of an Indigenous man who died in police custody in Prince George in 2017.

Dale Culver, a Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan man, was arrested by RCMP in Prince George on July 18, 2017.

B.C.'s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., said RCMP told IIO investigators that officers encountered Culver after responding to a report of a man "casing parked vehicles."

RCMP said Culver tried to flee on a bicycle. He was pepper sprayed and placed in the back of a police cruiser before his death. 

Culver had trouble breathing and later died in hospital, according to information provided by the RCMP. 

A sign announcing the City of Prince George RCMP detachment is seen next to a stone pillar outside a glass-walled building with trees showing their fall colours.
Five RCMP officers have been charged in the in-custody death of Dale Culver in Prince George in 2017. All five have pleaded not guilty. (Andrew Kurjata/CBC)

Culver was the father of three children, the youngest an infant when he died.

Earlier this year, almost six years after his death, the B.C. Prosecution Service laid charges against Cons. Arthur Dalman, Sgt Bayani [Jon] Eusebio Cruz and Const. Clarence [Alex] Alexander MacDonald.

An Indigenous woman holds a framed picture of a smiling man outside a building.
Virginia Pierre holds a photo of her nephew, Dale Culver, outside the Prince George courthouse. (Betsy Trumpener/CBC )

They were charged with  attempting to obstruct justice "in connection with events immediately following [Culver's] arrest." 

The officers entered not-guilty pleas Wednesday morning during an arraignment hearing in the Prince George courthouse, according to Ann Seymour, Crown counsel for policy and justice issues with the B.C. Prosecution Service, in an email to CBC News.

They have elected to be tried by a provincial court judge, said Seymour. 

No trial date has been set. 

Two other Prince George RCMP officers were also charged in Culver's death.

Constables Paul Ste-Marie and Jean Francois Monette are charged with manslaughter. 

They entered not-guilty pleas in June 2023. 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Betsy Trumpener

Reporter-Editor, CBC News

Betsy Trumpener has won numerous journalism awards, including a national network award for radio documentary and the Adrienne Clarkson Diversity Award. Based in Prince George, B.C., Betsy has reported on everything from hip hop in Tanzania to B.C.'s energy industry and the Paralympics.

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