Alain Magloire inquiry: Expert defends police actions
Bruno Poulin, expert in police use of force, says officers reacted appropriately in shooting death
A police expert on the use of force said Thursday that officers should have called for a stun gun and ambulance immediately – but otherwise, they responded properly in their ultimately fatal confrontation with Alain Magloire.
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Magloire, a mentally ill homeless man, was shot four times by police and died last February in an altercation near the Montreal coach bus terminal.
Bruno Poulin, an instructor at the province's police college in Nicolet, testified at the coroner's inquest into Magloire's death.
He said he understood the police officers' delay in calling for a stun gun to subdue Magloire, given the stressful circumstances.
Magloire was shot after he refused to drop the hammer he was holding.
Poulin spoke about the police car, driven by officer Denis Côté, that hit Magloire moments before he was shot.
He said police made a good decision in trying to create a diversion, in order to give the officers a bit of breathing room.
Officers were right to shoot, expert says
Poulin also testified that he believed officer Mathieu Brassard had a legitimate reason to fire at Magloire.
Magloire was first shot after a scuffle sent a police officer to the ground.
The police expert said Brassard saw his partner on the ground in a potentially dangerous situation and did what he was trained to do — fire his gun until he felt the threat was neutralized.
The next portion of the coroner's inquest will begin March 9 with the cross-examination of Poulin, before continuing on to look at the psycho-social services available to mentally ill itinerant people in Montreal.