Court sees video of inmate's final hours in Manitoba jail on 1st day of corrections officer's trial
William Ahmo, 45, died after February 2021 altercation at Headingley Correctional Centre
Footage of William Ahmo's final hours inside a Manitoba jail was shown in a Winnipeg courtroom Friday, during the start of a trial for a correctional officer facing charges in the man's death.
Robert Jeffrey Morden is charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide necessaries of life related to the death of Ahmo, 45, who was an inmate at Headingley Correctional Centre when he died more than two years ago.
Ahmo was at Headingley, a provincial jail about 20 kilometres west of Winnipeg, when an altercation took place in the evening of Feb. 7, 2021, RCMP said last year when Morden was charged.
Following a standoff between corrections officers and Ahmo in a common room at the jail, Ahmo was taken to hospital in medical distress. He died a week later.
Manitoba's chief medical examiner ruled Ahmo's death a homicide.
On Friday, court was shown more than two hours of video from Feb. 7, 2021.
In one video, Ahmo is seen pacing in a common area, appearing to be agitated. At one point he rips a water tank off the wall, causing a leak across the floor of the unit.
In the video, inmates can be heard being told to return to their cells. All complied except Ahmo, who was left alone in the main floor shared space.
In a second video, taken by an officer from behind a protective window, Ahmo is seen throwing objects at the glass, including a television. He also whipped the glass with a cord.
A nearby door was opened by correction centre staff and what appears to be pepper spray was used on Ahmo whenever he approached the door. Ahmo is seen repeatedly rubbing his eyes with towels, and officers can be heard coughing.
At one point, Ahmo returns to the office with a large metal item, and is seen trying to break the glass.
'I can't breathe'
As the altercation escalated, crisis negotiator Michel Jolicoeur, who works for Manitoba Justice at Headingley, was brought in, the video shows.
Jolicoeur was the first witness to speak in court Friday. In the video, he is seen and heard trying to calm Ahmo down and asking him what happened. Ahmo says he was upset with how correctional officers treat inmates.
Ahmo then tells Jolicoeur about a racist joke that an officer told him. Ahmo, who was originally from Sagkeeng First Nation, says he felt disrespected.
At another point in the video, Jolicoeur, who was still meeting with Ahmo in the common area, turns to the officers watching from behind the protective glass. Jolicoeur says Ahmo is a suicide high risk, telling the officers "he says he wants to die and go to heaven."
Later, about a dozen officers from a tactical unit, led by Morden, are seen entering the common area.
Projectiles are shot at Ahmo and the officers are seen swarming him and holding him down with shields, the video shows.
Officers are then seen transferring Ahmo to a chair to detain him. They put a spit mask on his head.
"I can't breathe," he says repeatedly for several minutes. Eventually, he loses consciousness.
Court heard that Ahmo was taken to a hospital in Winnipeg, where he was intubated. He was taken off life support a week later.
Members of Ahmo's family, who were in court Friday, broke down crying near the end of the last video. The Ahmo family's lawyer, as well as Morden's wife and several supporters, were also present.
'Very horrific'
Chief E.J. Fontaine of Sagkeeng First Nation, who also saw the video in court Friday, said the way the province's justice system treats Indigenous people needs to change.
"Many of our people feel the way William did — that these types of racist attitudes and brutal treatment inflicted upon our people by people involved in [the] justice system needs to be challenged and stopped," he told CBC News outside the courthouse.
Fontaine said the video was "very horrific" and likened the situation to the murder of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knees on his neck and back for more than nine minutes.
"Clearly he was struggling to breathe," Fontaine said, referring to the video of Ahmo. "They continue to press him."
Fontaine said he hopes Ahmo's family gets the justice and closure they need.
The judge-only trial, being presided over by Judge Tony Cellitti, began Friday in Manitoba provincial court and is expected to continue until Sept. 8, followed by another week at the end of September.
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