Newly released Vancouver shooting video a reminder of uneasy relationship between cops, mentally ill

The footage is grainy, the angle distant and the view partially blocked by a large, white truck. But recently released video of a fatal Vancouver police shooting has prompted more debate into how Canadian authorities treat those suffering from mental illness.

Footage of the weekend shooting was posted to the site Live Leaks on Monday showing the scene shortly before and shortly after a victim identified as 51-year-old Phuong Na Du was shot dead.

The video appears to have been recorded by a teenager riding in a truck with his father near the intersection of Knight Street and 41st Avenue, where Vancouver police engaged a man carrying a piece of lumber on Saturday evening.

In the video, officers can be seen in a standoff with another figure before voices from inside the vehicle claim they heard gunshots. A short time later, the figure can be seen lying on the ground. Moments in the middle of the video are obscured by a large white truck that moves into view.

Witness Kieran Fogarty told CBC News the victim “was talking to himself, talking to the traffic, and he was rubbing the stick across the fence and tapping the fence with the stick.”

Vancouver police have confirmed that the 51-year-old man shot by police in East Vancouver that evening died of his injuries.

In a statement released over the weekend, police say the man was distraught when confronted by officers and refused to comply with directions.

The man was said to be carrying a two-by-four. He was struck by bean bag rounds, which did not stop him. He was eventually shot, and died of his injuries.

Strangely familiar scene

The first-hand video of the incident calls back to another recent police shooting, in Toronto, in which teenager Sammy Yatim was shot dead while alone on a streetcar. Several recording of the incident were posted online by witnesses, leading to increased public scrutiny.

The officer at the centre of the Toronto shooting has been charged with second-degree murder, but the incident also prompted calls for a renewed effort to peacefully deal with distressed suspects.

Yatim’s family is currently suing the Toronto Police Service, claiming the teen “was experiencing a period of emotional disturbance at the time he was shot.”

The incident also prompted Chief Bill Blair to launch a review of the service, which ultimately resulted in a 346-page report that urged Toronto police to create a police and mental health oversight body to help manage relationships between officers and vulnerable people.

Part of that recommendation included setting up a voluntary registry to identify vulnerable citizens for police. Another recommendation urged the service to “consider ways to bridge the divide between police officers and people living with mental health issues.”

But Yatim and Du, if mental illness is determined to be a factor in this case, are not the first disturbed individuals to find themselves in a fatal conflict with Canadian police agencies.

Rocky relationship between police, mentally ill

Several high-profile interactions with police have shone a spotlight on mental health in Canada, and police’s struggle to deal with those affected.

In 2012, Michael Eligon fled from a Toronto hospital when he had been held under the Mental Health Act. He was shot after a spree that involved attacking a convenience store owner with scissors and carjacking two vehicles.

In 2007, Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died after he was Tasered several times by RCMP officers while in a distressed state at Vancouver’s international airport. While these are some of the more oft-cited cases, there have been countless other incidents of force between mentally unstable people and Canadian police forces.

Most recently, the Mental Health Commission of Canada released a report aimed at “improving interaction between police and people living with mental health problems.”

The report criticized police services for “notable gaps” in their mental health strategy, leaving the curriculum inaccurate and outdated.

"Most notable is the common failure to include people with mental illnesses in the development and delivery of curricula," the report notes. "The research literature about attitude change strongly supports that value of direct interactions with people with mental illnesses in order to change attitudes and, therefore, change behaviours."

The sense here is that mental health training is still yet to be perfected in Canadian police academies. Indeed, the report notes that one instructor stated that police tactics of attempting to persuade or warn a suspect are only useful when the person is capable of “rationalizing and understanding the consequences of their actions.” In other words, the instructor felt it prudent to skip directly to more forceful measures when dealing with those who appear mentally distressed.

That was just one response received by the Mental Health Commission while compiling the report. Other instructors recommended extra patience and communication in such cases. But it is an indication of the misunderstandings that still exist, and the struggle police officers face when confronted with a disturbed suspect.