Apology owed to Craig McDougall's family, says lawyer

As the inquest into the fatal police shooting of Craig McDougall comes to an end, his family's lawyer says he will be asking for an apology to be made to the McDougall family.

"The Winnipeg Police Service, City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba [should] make a formal apology to Brian McDougall and his family for the way in which they were treated after the shooting," said lawyer Corey Shefman.

• 'Why are these people in handcuffs?': Systemic racism behind treatment of McDougall's family, expert says

Shefman said what stood out most during the five-week inquest was how differently the McDougall family was treated compared to police witnesses. 

"The expert in systemic racism stated unequivocally that there was no reasonable explanation other than systemic racism for the way in which the police treated the family members of Craig McDougall after the shooting," he said.

McDougall was shot and killed by Patrol Sgt. Curtis Beyak on Aug. 2, 2008 outside his father's Simcoe Street home. The inquest previously heard that officers were called to the home for a reported stabbing.

Seconds after they arrived, the officers involved testified that they spotted McDougall holding a large knife. The three officers said the 26-year-old refused to drop the knife and was shot with a Taser but didn't go down. Then Beyak fired the lethal shots. The whole incident unfolded in minutes.

The inquest heard that the father, Brian McDougall, the father's girlfriend and an uncle were all put in handcuffs and placed on the front lawn, just feet from McDougall's bleeding body.

Testimony revealed the father and uncle remained in handcuffs for around 40 minutes until arriving at the police headquarters. The father's girlfriend was uncuffed within minutes.

• Inquest into fatal police shooting hears witnesses were treated differently

Shefman said the expert on systemic racism, Jonathan Rudin, really emphasized the difference in his testimony.

"When the police officer who shot Craig McDougall was taken to the public safety building, he was taken not in handcuffs, he was allowed to speak with his union representative, he was allowed to speak with the chief of police, he was sat in a board room with comfortable chairs," said Shefman.

Court heard that while Brian McDougall was a witness, he sat in a cold interrogation room and gave his statement before he was told his son was dead, even though police had known for hours.

"I have pages and pages of recommendations," said Shefman about his final submission to the inquest. "I know Mr. McDougall hopes that Judge [Anne] Krahn makes recommendations, of course we know that there have been inquests recently where judges have decided not to make recommendations."

One of Shefman's recommendations is that if a suspect isn't subdued by a single Taser firing, officers be required to fire a Taser a second time before engaging lethal force. 

The officers had testified that a Taser was fired but failed to take McDougall down. At the time, the Taser model did not allow for a quick reload. Court heard the WPS now uses a model that automatically reloads within seconds.

Shefman said Brian McDougall is still sick and trying to get permission from his doctor to attend the closing day of the inquest.

The lawyer said eight years was too long to wait for this process and in the end he isn't satisfied.

"I think that people got away with what amounts to in the best case scenario as laziness, in the worst case scenario, further racism," said Shefman.