Mother seeking answers at inquest
At the second day of an inquest into the 2014 death of her son, Marney Mutch had the opportunity to question the Victoria police officers involved in his shooting.
“I would like the truth,” she said outside the courthouse. “To be able to put it all together and have the pieces fit … so that I can be at peace. … Because it just doesn’t add up.”
The inquest heard from four police officers on Tuesday, including the officer who shot and killed Rhett Mutch.
The 20-year-old was killed Nov. 1, 2014, at his mother’s Dallas Road home. At the time, he was under a court order to stay away from the house and his mother. Marney Mutch called police for help, saying her son had broken in and was holding a knife against himself. Within minutes of police arriving, Rhett Mutch was fatally shot in the neck.
Const. John Musicco told the inquest that when he entered the Mutch home with other officers, his intention was to wait for the supervisor, a trained negotiator, to take over.
“There was no time,” he said, describing how Rhett Mutch ran toward them holding a knife. Musicco fired his gun after a beanbag shot failed to stop the young man from moving forward.
Musicco appeared distraught, taking breaks and wiping tears, but answered Marney Mutch’s questions about how her son was shot, where he fell and where the knife he was holding landed.
Marney Mutch has been granted participant status at the inquest, which allows her to question witnesses.
She asked the officers about her son’s behaviour when they confronted him in the living room. At least five armed officers were at the room’s two doorways, and Rhett Mutch was seated on a couch against a wall, holding a knife.
Several officers testified that the shift in his demeanour — first yelling at his mother, then becoming non-responsive with police officers — was frightening and indicated an increasing threat.
Marney Mutch suggested that her son was quiet because “he was in shock, terrified, with you pointing your guns at him.”
Const. Steven Lefebvre, who fired the beanbag shot, responded: “I don’t think he was terrified. I think he was talking to himself in his head. [If he was terrified] he would’ve put the knife down.”
Inquest counsel John M. Orr questioned the officers about their crisis intervention and deescalation training. All of the officers said they took, or to their recollection, likely took, the required four-hour online and eight-hour classroom program in 2012. Some had updated their training.
Coroner’s inquests often occur for deaths involving police. The purpose is to determine how the death occurred and to make recommendations to prevent similar incidents.
The five-day inquest is scheduled to continue for the rest of the week. Presiding coroner Donita Kuzma and seven jurors are to hear from everyone present the day Rhett Mutch was killed, as well as use-of-force experts and a pathologist, social worker and psychiatrist.
The Independent Investigations office of B.C., which investigates police-involved deaths and major injuries, has cleared Victoria police of criminal wrongdoing in Rhett Mutch’s death.