Mounties charged in shooting death

EDMONTON — Two RCMP officers have been charged in the shooting death of a 31-year-old man in northern Alberta almost two years ago.

Cpl. Randy Stenger and Const. Jessica Brown of the Whitecourt RCMP detachment were arrested Friday and were each charged with one count of criminal negligence causing death, the province’s police watchdog said Monday.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) said that Clayton Crawford died from multiple gunshot wounds inside a car after a confrontation with police on July 3, 2018.

Mounties had been investigating another shooting the day before at a home in Valhalla Centre, Alta., about 65 kilometres northwest of Grande Prairie. ASIRT said the officers were looking for a witness or possible victim in that case, when they discovered a man sleeping in the driver’s seat of a vehicle parked at a rest stop near Whitecourt.

During the confrontation, the vehicle was “put into motion” and one officer fired a service pistol while the other discharged a carbine rifle, the agency said.

“The vehicle left the rest stop, crossed the highway and entered a ditch a short distance away,” said a news release.

ASIRT executive director Susan Hughson told a news conference Monday that Crown prosecutors were consulted for their opinion and her team recently determined charges were warranted.

Hughson said it’s the first time in the Alberta agency’s history that a policeinvolved shooting resulting in a death has led to criminal charges against officers.