Saskatoon police sergeant recalls 'no-win situation' after officers shot Steven Rigby
Guy Quenneville | CBC News | Posted: June 23, 2021 12:16 PM | Last Updated: June 23, 2021
Warning: this story contains content some readers may find disturbing
As the officer who supervised the tense and fast-moving scene that ended in the fatal shooting of Steven Rigby, Sgt. Aaron Moser was peppered with many questions on Tuesday.
Lawyers at a coroner's inquest into Rigby's December 2018 death asked Moser about everything from why a police dog was not unleashed on Rigby to why one of Rigby's best friends — a Saskatoon police officer untrained as a crisis negotiator — was allowed to remain on the phone with the volatile Rigby for more than an hour up to the shooting.
The 17-year police veteran paused and got emotional after recalling the "no-win situation" that happened after three officers fired on Rigby when he reportedly pointed his weapon in their direction.
"I knew that he needed immediate medical attention," Moser recalled. "There was no question in my mind."
But Moser saw that Rigby — who was suicidal and had talked of getting into a gun battle with police — remained armed with a gun, his finger still on the trigger.
So Moser held people back until Rigby stopped moving, he said.
Rigby showed no signs of life by the time he arrived at the hospital, the inquest previously heard.
"I had to choose between getting medical attention to a close friend of a colleague or also doing my job and making sure that—" Moser said, unable to continue.
'We're trying not to provoke him'
The tension between protecting an armed and unpredictable man suffering from mental illness while keeping officers near him safe was laid bare at various points during the second day of the coroner's inquest.
Inquests are not criminal trials. Saskatchewan Crown prosecutors have already decided not to recommend criminal charges against any of the officers involved in the Rigby shooting. Rather, inquests are meant to come up with practical changes designed to prevent similar deaths from happening in the future.
Whether officers could have used less lethal means of disarming Rigby, including a police dog that was on the scene, was a frequently-recurring line of questioning on Tuesday.
Moser said doing so risked antagonizing Rigby. He said there was word the 27 year old might surrender, although Moser could not remember exactly who relayed that information.
"When we're trying not to provoke him, sending a dog, I think, would be a terrible idea," Moser said.
"Unless it ended the critical incident," replied Scott Spencer, the lawyer for the Saskatchewan Health Authority who mostly asked questions about police tactics.
"Or [it could] cause him to turn his gun and get into a shootout with police like he'd been threatening to do," Moser said in return.
Less-lethal shotgun
Rigby appeared intoxicated and stumbled outside his car in the moments before the shooting, the inquest heard.
Moser said a beanbag shotgun was called for but did not arrive from police headquarters in time, nor did the service's tactical support unit, which is trained for such high-risk situations.
A decision to use a less-lethal shotgun needed the approval of the incident commander, who was not at the scene, Moser added.
"From my perspective, I don't think there was an opportunity to use that simply because Mr. Rigby was in possession of a firearm, which we considered to be lethal force," he said. "And if we're presented with lethal force, we're not going to respond with less lethal force."
Brian Pfefferle, the lawyer for the Rigby family, suggested a dog or beanbag shotgun might distract a person whose back was turned to police, as one video appeared to show Rigby at one point. Moser disagreed.
"What we would need to have is absolute certainty that that's going to work. He's armed with a gun."
Spencer asked why officers didn't just back away and leave Rigby alone. It was a very cold night, -13C with the wind chill, according to Environment Canada — and a paramedic testified that Rigby was wearing no toque or gloves.
Moser said Rigby appeared motivated to harm himself. He was also worried about an ambush on police, he said.
Communication gaps
Other testimony pointed out seeming communication gaps between the RCMP, which initially responded to a call about Rigby when he was driving outside the city limits, and the Saskatoon Police Service, which took command of the situation after Rigby's car was disabled with a spike belt on the southwest edge of the city.
Cpl. Dean Flaman of the RCMP's Warman detachment was one of the first officers to deal with Rigby that night. Flaman and other officers were positioned at a roadblock impeding Rigby's entry into Saskatoon. They knew he had a gun and ordered him to show his hands, but he didn't comply and seemed annoyed with them, Flaman said.
"At some point I realized he was talking on his Bluetooth speaker to another individual, and I later learned that was a city police officer," he said.
Cst. Jordan Lapointe, a close friend of Rigby, previously testified that he tried to calm Rigby over the phone for more than an hour.
"For a short time, there was some overlapping conversations and confusion," Flaman said. "I adjusted my game plan and said much less to lessen the confusion."
Moser testified that it was suggested Rigby drive to the Saskatoon police station to surrender, which only agitated Rigby.
"I don't know where the plan came from," Flaman said. "I didn't like the idea."
Flaman said Rigby's driving was so erratic that he approached the RCMP from the wrong side of the road. Whether that was ever communicated to the Saskatoon police officers suggesting Rigby drive into the city is unclear.
Officer perception
Nine people have testified during the inquest so far, but only one of them was at the scene and testified to what Rigby was doing before he was shot at by three officers, one of whom wounded him gravely in the abdomen.
Paramedic Alicia Westad said believed she saw Rigby shoot once into the air.
Under questioning by Scott Spencer, Moser said no one gave an order to shoot Rigby and that shooting into the air is not considered an immediate threat of grievous bodily harm. He said officers perceived a threat from Rigby, though Moser himself was behind an armored vehicle when the shooting happened.
Sgt. Tony Boensch of the Saskatoon Police Service's major crimes unit, who investigated the shooting and gave a broad overview of his findings, said Rigby pointed his gun in the direction of officers but did not shoot at them.
Spencer then pounced on Boensch.
"[There's] a big difference between discharging a firearm and shooting it into the air," Spencer said.
BOENSCH: "That would be officers' perception."
SPENCER: "You would agree with me that there's a big difference between those two?"
BOENSCH: "Depending on the situation, if someone is firing a firearm at the ground and I've asked them not to shoot that gun and I'm acting as a police officer, I would perceive that as the same as shooting at me. Because the level of danger is the same."
The three officers who shot at Rigby are expected to testify on Wednesday.