“This is in no way how I wanted this to be resolved,” Ron Kirkwood told an Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner public hearing
Family members of Lisa Rauch watched through tears as the officer who fatally shot her with a “less-lethal” weapon in 2019 described the moment he realized she was seriously injured.
Adjudicator Wally Oppal, a retired judge and former B.C. attorney general, is presiding over the hearing to determine if Kirkwood committed misconduct under the Police Act in connection with Rauch’s death. When officers opened the door to the unit, Kirkwood was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Insp. Drew Robertson, who testified this week he told Kirkwood he wanted him to shoot Rauch with the ARWEN as soon as he had an opportunity. Robertson’s role at the time was what police call “lethal overwatch,” meaning he was ready to use lethal force if necessary.
As a member of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, he was trained to capitalize on opportunities to use a less-lethal option, Kirkwood said. He had been on calls where opportunities to intervene with less-lethal weapons were missed, leading to an escalation of force, he said. Kirkwood sounded frustrated as he described his struggle to explain to his children why investigations into Rauch’s death have continued for more than four years.
Kirkwood and other officers have testified they never saw the fire go out entirely, while a firefighter operating the fire hose testified he heard shots shortly after he put the fire out. “It probably would have made me think that nobody was trying to cover anything up … Why wouldn’t they tell us if they’ve got nothing to hide?”
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