`I got him': Jury hears of road takeout as inquest into mass stabber's death begins
As soon as Saskatchewan RCMP were certain they had eyes on the man responsible for the James Smith Cree Nation mass stabbing, officers in pursuit had permission to take his vehicle down — even knowing the risk behind such a move.
The coroner's inquest into the death of Myles Sanderson began Monday with jury selection, a preview of what the week ahead was to bring, and details into the moments of Sanderson's arrest.
Sanderson, 32, killed 11 people and injured 17 others during a stabbing rampage on James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby community of Weldon on the morning of Sept. 4, 2022.
Sanderson died in police custody a few days later, after an extensive multi-provincial manhunt.
The inquest into the deaths of Sanderson's victims took place three weeks ago in Melfort, and resulted in a staggering 29 recommendations from that coroner and jury. This second inquest will focus entirely on the death of Myles Sanderson.
Under the provincial coroner's act, an inquest is required any time a person dies in police custody, unless the coroner is satisfied that the death was due entirely to natural causes and was not preventable.
On Monday morning, presiding coroner Robert Kennedy began by swearing in a panel of six jurors, who will hear evidence, ask questions and make recommendations about what could be done to prevent similar deaths in the future. The inquest is expected to run until Friday, and will hear from approximately 13 witnesses. including RCMP officers, pathologists, physicians, paramedics and psychologists.
The inquest began with the RCMP'S arrest and capture of Myles Sanderson, starting with a phone call to the Wakaw RCMP on the afternoon of Sept. 7, 2022.
That afternoon, a woman living near Wakaw said Sanderson broke into her home, smashed a window and took her vehicle.
“In this case, the sergeant that was actually working that day at the detachment picked up the phone and spoke directly to the person who was reporting that crime,” said RCMP Supt. Devin Pugh, who was a critical incident commander during the manhunt for Myles Sanderson and testified before the coroner's inquest on Monday.
On his way to respond to the break-in, the sergeant called RCMP dispatch to explain what he had heard.
“She's really panicked,” the sergeant told dispatch, as sirens wailed in the background. “She says the guy broke in and took her vehicle, and she's alleging that it's Myles Sanderson.”
Once the RCMP knew which vehicle they were chasing and in which direction Sanderson was going, officers deployed in full force.
They were calculating how far Sanderson could drive on a full tank of gas, setting up roadblocks, raising concerns about the safety implications of a potential highspeed chase during school pickup hour and asking if Sask. Highways could shut down their ferries to restrict river crossings to the bridges.
“The risk level for not apprehending this individual was probably the highest I've ever seen in my career,” Pugh said. “I would say the response and the number of officers was justified in the attempt to locate this individual as quickly as possible.”
After leaving Wakaw, Myles Sanderson drove to the One Arrow First Nation and went to speak with Richard Sanderson, offering him $250 for a ride to Saskatoon.
Richard declined, telling Myles he didn't have a working vehicle, and Richard called the RCMP.
With Richard Sanderson's report, officers were able to converge on Myles Sanderson's position.
RCMP Const. Brianne Hathaway was driving an unmarked police Jeep at the time, and got right behind him on the highway.
“Stay with him,” Pugh told her over the radio. “Stay with that vehicle. This is Incident Command. Stay with that vehicle.”
When Sanderson realized police were closing in, he turned into a service station, then went through the ditch and sped into oncoming traffic on Highway 11.
“He knows we're onto him,” an officer said. “Members are in pursuit, lights on.”
As Pugh sat in the RCMP mobile command centre that had been set up on James Smith Cree Nation, he had to make a critical decision.
Regular RCMP detachment officers aren't trained to “ram” vehicles at high speeds — but that might be the best way to get Myles Sanderson off the road before anybody else got hurt.
“The risk of intentionally ramming a suspect's vehicle with a police vehicle at high speeds is very high-risk,” Pugh said.
“The known risk of asking police officers to conduct this action was the real possibility of causing a serious collision, which could injure or kill the police officers involved, or the suspect. (But) we run into danger, to ensure that the threat is stopped.”
At 3:15 p.m., Pugh gave the order: “Take the vehicle down if the opportunity exists to end the threat.”
Meanwhile, Myles Sanderson continued to drive south in the northbound lane, as drivers scattered into the ditch to avoid him.
“He's starting to aim for oncoming traffic now,” one officer said.
Officers said they would try to take the vehicle off the road “as soon as this oncoming traffic gets out of the way,” but that they were “scared to hit somebody's vehicle” if they acted too soon.
When she saw an opportunity, RCMP Const. Heidi Marshall sped up to hit Sanderson's vehicle, but he was able to keep driving.
Then, Myles Sanderson crossed the median and got into the southbound lanes — still driving well above the speed limit, but in the same direction as the highway traffic — and Marshall was able to try again.
As Sanderson's vehicle spun out into the ditch, a very surprised-sounding Marshall spoke over the radio.
“Um, I got him. I got him,” Marshall said.
The inquest into the death of Myles Sanderson will continue Tuesday morning.