A public hearing for a Victoria police officer in the death of a woman shot with plastic bullets on Christmas Day in 2019 determined he committed misconduct under the police act.
The woman, Lisa Rauch, 43, was taken off life support and died in hospital a few days after the incident.
Retired judge Wally Oppal delivered his ruling on Sgt. Ron Kirkwood on Friday, following 16 days of hearings.
“She was funny, she loved her family,” Audrey Rauch, Lisa’s mother, told Global News.
“I would really hope that this has a deterrent effect on how people are dealt with – I really do.”
Police had been called to a housing facility after a fire broken out in a suite where Lisa was barricaded and had reportedly threatened someone with a knife.
With smoke coming from the window, police moved to enter the unit and fired three projectiles from an ARWEN, a so-called “less-lethal launcher,” striking her in the head.
She was knocked unconscious and never woke up.
The hearing heard Lisa had been visiting a friend in the building, where the two drank alcohol and took crystal meth before the fire broke out.
Kirkwood told the hearing he believed Lisa posed a danger to others and that he fired the projectiles into the unit, believing he was aiming at her torso.
Oppal ruled he should not have fired at her while his vision was obscured by smoke, and that the situation did not justify the use of potentially lethal force.
However, he said he accepted Kirkwood did not intend to kill her, and that his remorse was genuine.
Oppal also ruled that allegations Kirkwood neglected his duty by failing to document his actions were unsubstantiated.
“This was a dynamic scene like no other. There was reference made to seconds. There were fire alarms that were going off in the building, there was reduced visibility,” Victoria Police Chief Del Manak said.
“This was not an easy call – there were many, many variables at play — and nobody wanted the outcome that we ended up with.”
The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner ordered the public hearing in 2023 following a request from Lisa’s family, who said there were inconsistencies in information they received from police and from the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) — B.C.’s civilian police watchdog.
An IIO investigation into the incident declined to open the door to charges in 2020, saying there were no reasonable grounds to believe an officer had committed an offence.
The IIO report concluded Lisa was intoxicated and had threatened residents prior to the fire.
It said while officers are trained to fire ARWEN rounds into a person’s body, the officer’s vision was obscured by smoke from the fire and he thought he had been aiming for her abdomen.
A coroner’s inquest into the death is still set to be scheduled in the coming months.
Oppal is set to make recommendations to the Victoria Police Department and the Victoria Police Board at a later date.