The aunt of a man shot and killed by Port Hardy RCMP two years ago hopes a coroner’s inquest will address what she says are unanswered questions in his death.
A report by the Independent Investigations Office ruled out criminal charges against the Mountie who shot 24-year-old James Hayward, saying Hayward ran at the officer with a knife in his hand before he was shot five times on the morning of July 8, 2015.
Hayward’s aunt Nora Hayward said she wants to know why officers didn’t use less-lethal force options such as a Taser, rubber bullets or pepper spray.
“There’s so many other things [the officer] could have done. Did they have other things available?” she asked. “What is their training? How long have they been on the force?”
She hopes a coroner’s inquest will lead to recommendations that could change the way police deal with people in mental distress. “I want to know how can this never happen to another family again.”
An inquest has not been announced, but the practice is common in police-involved shootings.
Nora Hayward said her nephew grew up in a broken home, which led to troubles with the law. His criminal record includes convictions for assault, unlawful confinement, break-and-enter and robbery.
“He was a troubled young man,” she said.
While Hayward was never diagnosed, his aunt worried he might have had mental-health problems. When Hayward was in prison, he was taking medication, but that stopped once he was released.
“He was a young man fighting for his sanity,” she said. “He could have been so much.”
A few days before the shooting, Hayward’s father, Reginald, told Nora Hayward, his sister, that he was worried about his son, who was acting strangely and not sleeping.
According to the IIO report, someone called 911 around 11 a.m. to report a man waving a knife and making threats. Three Mounties were dispatched in separate vehicles.
Several drivers near Granville Street and Island Highway reported seeing Hayward run at the officer before they heard shots. Two officers reported that Hayward had a “mad” look in his eyes and was screaming as he ran forward.
Other witnesses reported hearing an officer yell “put down the knife” several times before gunshots rang out. Several witnesses saw the officer kick a knife away from Hayward’s hand as he lay on the ground.
Two witnesses told IIO investigators the officer fired two gunshots while Hayward was down on the ground, but a medical examination by a pathologist ruled this out. A toxicology report found no drugs or alcohol in Hayward’s system.
The investigators with the IIO, which probes all police-involved serious injuries or deaths in B.C., interviewed 21 civilian witnesses, the call-taker who answered the 911 call, two paramedics and the two other officers at the scene.
The officer who shot Hayward did not agree to be interviewed by the IIO.
