'Police responses are not providing safety': B.C. leaders demand inquiry into Indigenous man's death
CTV
Indigenous leaders are calling for an independent public inquiry into the death of a father of four and member of the Williams Lake First Nation, saying the RCMP's response to the family's distress call included heavily-armed officers and tear gas.
Indigenous leaders are calling for an independent public inquiry into the death of a father of four and member of the Williams Lake First Nation, saying the RCMP's response to the family's distress call included heavily-armed officers and tear gas.
At a news conference Tuesday, Chief Willie Sellars said he was speaking on behalf of the grieving family of Rojun Alphonse who died after police were called to his home on July 10. The family, Sellars said, called 911 because Alphonse was having a mental health crisis and they were concerned that he may harm himself.
"What should have resulted in a welfare check, with properly trained individuals to de-escalate the situation and talk Rojun down, instead resulted in a response of a swarm of (Emergency Response Team) personnel with automatic weapons, body armour, armoured vehicles and tear gas," Sellars said.
"In the midst of this aggressive and violent confrontation by the RCMP, Rojun took his life. We're all in shock and mourning."
Alphonse's mother, through tears, said a few words about the son whose funeral arrangements she made that morning.
"Just imagine yourself with all the cops around you and with all the rifles that they had, just imagine. My son was scared. He wasn't a dangerous man, he was a loving person," she said.
The Williams Lake RCMP issued a statement about the incident, announcing that the Independent Investigations Office had been called in to probe the death.
