Family of man shot by police awaits watchdog decision, 10 months later
It has been nearly 10 months since a Hamilton police officer fatally shot Anthony Divers on a busy downtown street next to the GO Centre last Sept. 30.
And his three siblings are frustrated as they watch yet another month go by without hearing whether the officer will be charged by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit.
"I'm still feeling heartbroken, full of questions as to how this happened, and most importantly, why 10 months later, we still do not have an answer," said Yvonne Alexander, Divers' oldest sister.
Divers' death and the secrecy around the investigation, though common after police-involved shootings, have ignited criticism and wariness from Divers' family.
And the wait is also criticized by the union representing police officers. Clint Twolan, president of the Hamilton Police Association, said there are 17 ongoing SIU investigations involving Hamilton officers stretching back 15 months.
And not knowing what the decision will be takes a toll on officers.
"It certainly has an impact on them," Twloan said. "It's in the back of their minds all the time; 99 per cent of them are confident that they've done nothing wrong."
The wait comes at a time of intense scrutiny on the SIU.
Anger around the SIU's handling of police-involved shootings led to a review of three police oversight bodies in Ontario, which Justice Michael Tulloch released in April. Afterward, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi committed to release all of the SIU decisions in police-involved fatalities going back to 1990.
Another recommendation from Tulloch's review was that the SIU conclude investigations in 120 days, where possible.
Three hundred days have passed since Divers died.
'What prompted the subject officer to shoot to kill?'
Questions have been simmering for the family since Divers' death.
Was Divers armed? If not, where did "reports" come from that he was armed with a gun, as the SIU initially said? Why has the investigation taken so long? Why wasn't a less lethal force tool like a Taser used?
The siblings have undertaken their own investigation, speaking with witnesses, visiting the scene, trying to piece together an account of what they call "an unarmed man in crisis."
"We just want justice, because we know Tony didn't have any kind of weapon that night," said Divers' sister, Leslie-Ann Wilson. "To just shoot and kill him and then it's just ask questions later, it's so devastating."
'Before the one-year mark?'
Alexander said the investigator on her brother's death visited with the family a month ago, "just to basically say sorry it's taking so long," she said.
She said he told her then that the decision would come in mid-July.
Last week, he told her, "he hopes that we hear soon," she said.
"I said, 'Before the one-year mark?'"
Divers' brother, Edward Divers, said the wait has been "torture."
"It's almost a year; we all want to know what happened on Sept. 30, Friday night. And I don't see why we have to wait all this time to find out what happened, when they already know what happened."
The SIU said Wednesday that the "file into the investigation remains open," and declined to comment on how long it has taken to release a decision.
Earlier this year, Divers' siblings took their concerns to the police service's oversight board, criticizing it for delaying implementing lapel cameras and calling for police to be disarmed.
At that meeting, board chair Lloyd Ferguson said the board and the chief care about the family's grief, and said he doesn't feel the family should have to wait so long to get the SIU report.
That was six months ago.
The night Divers died
Divers was struggling with mental health issues when he was fatally shot by police, his family said.
He also had a history with police and the justice system, a long list of charges going back to the late 1990s, including a conviction for manslaughter and previously resisting arrest.
He never, ever wanted to go back to jail, Alexander said.
Divers died several blocks away from an assault that cops were called about.
Police dispatched officers to a club at 41 Catharine Street North to interview a woman who said she had been assaulted. That woman was Madeleine Divers, and she and Divers were married but forbidden from contacting each other.
The SIU said that when the police got a call about the assault, there were reports the man who hit the woman had a gun.
Neither police nor the SIU said where those "reports" originated.
'There was an interaction'
Sometime between that altercation outside the bar and midnight (likely less than half an hour), police recognized a man walking near the Hamilton GO Centre, several blocks away, as someone who might be connected to the assault report, according to details released by the SIU at the time.
"There was an interaction and the officer discharged his firearm. The 36-year-old man was struck," the SIU statement reads.
The man was rushed to hospital and was pronounced dead there.
Neither local police nor the SIU have said if the man who was shot was found to have a gun.
A witness said the man he saw did not appear to have a gun. Alexander said the family will be requesting the 9-1-1 call as soon as the decision is released.
'It's not fair to the family to have to sit and wait in limbo like this'
Twolan said while his position means protecting and watching out for police officers' interests, he feels for families like the Divers family.
"I don't think it's fair that they have to sit around for 9, 10 months waiting for a decision from the SIU – whatever that decision is and whether they'll be content with it, that's a different matter," he said.
"It's not fair to the family to have to sit and wait in limbo like this."
Alexander said she knows the ultimate decision rests with Tony Loparco, the director of the SIU.
She and her siblings hope that when the decision comes, the SIU will charge the officer who shot their brother.
"You're in limbo. You're in limbo, just wondering," she said.
"You want to see the right thing being done. But you don't know."
kelly.bennett@cbc.ca
