Police watchdog admits probe into death took too long
The delay in the investigation into the death of a man shot by Vancouver police was largely due to a backlog in lab work, a coroner’s inquest into the shooting of Phuong Na (Tony) Du heard on Friday.
Du, who had lived with schizophrenia for over 25 years, was shot in November 2014 by an officer while yelling and waving a twometre long two-by-four board at 41st Avenue and Knight Street.
It took 11 months for the Independent Investigations Office, an agency that investigates police shootings, to complete its investigation, the IIO’s Jeremy Owen told the coroner and jury on the final day of the five-day inquest. The jury after dinner Friday began its deliberations on what recommendations, if any, to make to the coroner to try to prevent a repeat of the death and they’re expected this weekend.
The IIO waited another seven months for a ballistics report and in September 2016 its report was forwarded to the Crown prosecutor, said Owen.
The Crown five months later, in February 2017, announced it found no reason to lay charges against the officers involved.
It took another year for the coroner’s inquest to be held, more than three years after Du died.
“We appreciate that that’s too long,” said Owen. “The chief civilian director has spoken publicly about reducing the time” it takes for investigations.
He said the delay was caused by a seven-month wait for the forensic report from the lab. “The forensic ballistics work needs speeding up.”
The IIO has found a lab that it can use to bypass the backlog and has changed some of its internal procedures so the investigations are now carried out more quickly.
Du’s sister, Lien Chan, had her lawyer read a statement to the inquest in which the family described him as a “kind, caring soul,” who always shared what he had, no matter how little, with others.
They said he was “truly altruistic” and a hard worker who had two janitorial jobs until he couldn’t work any longer because of his mental illness.