Family of Chantel Moore grieving, but hopeful as coroner's inquest declares homicide

The mother of Chantel Moore says it hasn't been an easy process, but she feels like a step has been taken toward positive change following the conclusion Thursday of a coroner's inquest into her daughter's death.

Inquest jurors acknowledged the "loss and heartbreak" of Moore's family as they concluded the 26-year-old Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation woman died of a homicide when she was shot by a police officer outside her apartment in Edmundston on June 4, 2020.  They made several recommendations to improve training, policies, procedures and the relationship between police and Indigenous people.

"We need to find ways that we can work together so that there is no more deaths," said Moore's mother, Martha Martin.

"We are losing people at the hands of law enforcement … We need to have this change and we need it now. Not another life taken."

Martin's son died by suicide while in custody, five months after Moore's death.

Martin said anytime Moore's daughter sees a man in uniform, she's "terrified."

"She shakes and she'll go hide behind you," she said. "So these are some of the things that really need to be worked on between people policing and people Indigenous, people of color."

Martin said the family knew next to nothing about what happened to her daughter prior to the inquest, other than the number of times she was shot.

"It doesn't paint a pretty picture," she said. "The last two nights I haven't had a good sleep … Those are images that I see when I close my eyes … Nobody wants to visualize their child dying alone on their porch."

Martin called for quick action to implement the jury's recommendations.

Many of those recommendations echoed the advice of the final witness at the inquest, use-of-force expert Chris Butler, who testified earlier Thursday.

Butler, who retired from the Calgary Police Department in 2014, recommended better police training and policies in a variety of areas, including crisis intervention and de-escalation, first aid, and dealing with serious injuries or death.

Moore, who had moved to New Brunswick from B.C., was shot four times by Const. Jeremy Son when he was dispatched to her apartment to check on her well-being. 

The Edmundston officer testified the shooting was in self-defence when Moore approached him on her balcony with a knife. 

A call for mandatory carrying of Tasers

Butler, and the jury, recommended the mandatory wearing of non-lethal equipment, including Tasers for those trained in their use, greater access to less lethal tools, and debriefs to learn from every use-of-force incident.

He said two officers should be sent when possible on welfare checks and they should announce a police presence on their arrival.

The jurors also made a few recommendations of their own, including one for a single body to oversee use-of-force incidents in New Brunswick.

In recognition of the mistrust First Nations may have for police, the jury also recommended police take steps to improve the relationship, such as cultural sensitivity training or appointing a First Nation community liaison. 

Finally, the jury said officers should be tested on their comprehension of policies and procedures.

The recommendations will be forwarded to the agencies involved, and they'll have six months to respond, presiding coroner Emily Caissy said at the close of the inquest.

Caissy said she felt very deeply for the loss suffered by Moore's family.

"It's very hard to see so much pain," she said.

"I hope this was able to bring them answers that they were looking for."

Coroner sought expert's analysis

Further details on Butler's recommendations were filed in a report he prepared for the coroner's office and outlined in his testimony.

He said he found Son's use of force when he shot Moore four times was appropriate because Moore had the ability, intent and means to cause imminent lethal or grievous bodily harm.

According to Son's testimony, Moore had come out the door with a knife in her hand and moved toward him as he retreated to the edge of her third-floor balcony.

It only takes one stab or laceration to cause potentially life-threatening bleeding, said Butler.

He cited research from the Journal of Forensic Medicine that it only takes 140 milliseconds to make a diagonal slash with an edged weapon and that it would have only taken Moore about 0.6 seconds to close the distance between them — faster than the .83 seconds it takes for an officer to raise a weapon and fire a shot.

Butler said officers are trained to try to avoid using lethal force if at all possible. One way they can do that is through "tactical repositioning." 

If Son had stepped back from Moore's doorway to the right instead of the left, he said, he may have been able to disengage from the situation and give himself more distance to stabilize the situation, instead of getting stuck against the balcony with nowhere to go but a long way down over the railing.

It's hard to make decisions on the spot in a crisis that take all that into account, he noted, but training can help.

He recommended police include "situational awareness" in their scenario training.

Had Son planned an escape route before knocking on Moore's window, he may have made different decisions in the small amount of reaction time he had when she came out the door.

Butler emphasized after that and all of his critiques that he couldn't conclude with certainty the outcome would not have remained the same.

It might also have made a difference, he said, if Marc Bouchard, the second officer on the scene, had accompanied Son up to Moore's door.

Bouchard, by remaining in his vehicle, precluded himself from being able to help on the balcony.

Two officers together are better able to use other resources and implement other tactics, he said.

Training could be improved, consultant says

Butler noted many areas in which training could be improved.

One was with respect to the first aid that was given to Moore after she was shot.

It should have continued until the arrival of paramedics, he said. Police officers are typically not qualified to determine someone has died.

And front-line officers should have more than basic first aid training, said Butler. 

In recent years, he said, many have been getting training and equipment for combat casualty care, also known as CCC. It includes using tourniquets and dressings to stop life-threatening bleeding.

It can significantly improve survivability, said Butler. None of the officers at the scene had that.

Alain Lang, Edmundston's former police chief testified Wednesday that the force now has a policy that ensures all officers are properly trained in first aid and CPR.

Butler said there were significant equipment issues in the Edmundston case — only one Taser was functional and microphones were not functioning reliably on the dashcam recording system.

But he noted the force has already taken measures to rectify that. Lang said there is now a concrete policy to insure critical equipment is properly maintained. 

Lang said there are now functional Tasers available to all patrol officers, but Butler said he remains "concerned" it's not mandatory that officers who are trained to use them carry them while on duty.

That's like a paramedic saying, I'm not taking my defibrillator today, said Butler. It shouldn't be optional, he said.

"A Taser has repeatedly saved lives across this country," said Butler. Officers have used them to take people into custody many times without having to use lethal force.

2 officers for checks recommended

Notwithstanding his overall opinion of their usefulness, he acknowledged he agrees with Son that it wouldn't have made a difference in this particular case.

But in response to a question from the jury, he said there may have been a possibility that a Taser could have been deployable by a second officer, had one been there. 

Butler recommended sending two officers for welfare checks, when possible.

He'd like to see other less lethal tools come into greater use as well, such as bean bag rounds and 40 mm impact round soft sponges.

They can be fired from much greater distances than Tasers, he said.

Jurors also wanted to know whether it would have been useful to have a social worker or other mental health professional attend a well-being check like this one.

Butler noted that police weren't going there for someone in mental distress. They were going to check if someone was in her apartment posing a danger to her.

However, he added there are many circumstances where police can be greatly assisted by mental health professionals, but he didn't think this would have changed the outcome in the Moore case.

He also recommended the force tweak its guidance to officers on de-escalating certain medical emergencies, so that its emphasis is on "people in crisis" as opposed to people with "mental illness."

"The average officer has no idea if a person they're encountering has a mental illness," he said.