No charges to be laid in police killing of Pierre Coriolan

Black man suffering from mental illness was armed with knife and screwdriver

No police officers will face charges related to the killing of Pierre Coriolan, a black man who suffered from mental illness, Quebec’s public prosecutor said on Friday. Coriolan, 58, died after being shot, Tasered and struck by police offers on June 27, 2017. The Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP) said that after reviewing the report by the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), which investigates whenever someone dies during a police operation, a three-prosecutor panel has determined that the use of force by police was justified. According to the DPCP, two police officers arrived at an apartment building in Montreal’s Gay Village at 7:24 p.m., responding to two 911 calls reporting a man in crisis. The man was screaming and breaking things and police, who spoke to a neighbour after arriving, were told that the man might be in possession of a knife and a stick. Four more police officers arrived shortly afterwards. According to the DPCP, two officers drew their guns before heading up the stairs to the third floor, where Coriolan lived. Another officer was armed with a weapon that shoots “less-lethal” plastic bullets. A fourth was armed with a Taser. The DPCP said when the officers reached the third floor, they heard cries coming from an open door. The officers approached the door but did not enter, according to the DPCP. In the apartment, Coriolan was on a sofa, with a knife in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. Police yelled at him to drop the knife, the DPCP said. Instead he stood up and advanced toward the officers. The officers fired a Taser and rubber bullets at the man, who continued to advance. The two officers armed with handguns then opened fire with live ammunition. Coriolan then fell to his knees, according to the DPCP. A cellphone video shot by a neighbour, which was among the evidence reviewed, shows Coriolan on his knees. In the video, four police officers form a line in the hallway facing him, their weapons drawn. One officer orders him to get on the ground; Coriolan responds that he can’t, the video shows. One of the officers fires two shots and Coriolan slumps to the ground. According to the DPCP, those shots were plastic bullets and not live ammunition. After Coriolan was on the ground, the video shows one police officer strike him with a baton. According to the DPCP, Coriolan was still in possession of the knife and, after being struck, was Tasered two more times, kicked in the ribs and punched in the head. Police tried to revive him. According to a previous Gazette report, Urgences-santé arrived at 7:30 p.m. The BEI was notified at 8:05 p.m. The DPCP said police officers are allowed to use reasonable force to enforce the law and that the use in this case was reasonable. “Police are often placed in situations where they have to rapidly make difficult decisions. In this context, it cannot be expected that they measure the level of force applied with precision,” the DPCP said. Coriolan’s family has filed a civil lawsuit against the city, seeking $150,000 in damages. Virginie Dufresne-Lemire, a lawyer for Coriolan’s family, said she was disappointed but not surprised by the Crown’s decision. She is also calling for a coroner’s inquest to examine the larger issue of how police approach people who are vulnerable or experiencing mental health issues.