David Manlove was killed by police in 2021.
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February 10, 2023 - 12:30 PM
A Quesnel RCMP officer who fired almost 30 shots at an armed drug trafficker will not face criminal charges after the police watchdog said his actions were not unreasonable.
The unnamed RCMP officer fired between 26 and 29 shots into the Jeep where David Manlove was sleeping on the night of Aug. 31, 2021. Manlove was killed in the hail of bullets.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. has ruled that the officer's actions were not perfect but don't amount to an excessive use of force.
According to a Feb. 10 Independent Investigations Office of B.C. report, RCMP officers discovered Manlove asleep in the reclined driver’s seat of a Jeep parked in a deserted industrial area of Quesnel just after 3 a.m.
Police saw a shotgun on the passenger seat.
The police watchdog's report doesn't name Manlove, but an online petition and the Quesnel Cariboo Observer identify him as David Baker who's legally known as David Manlove.
The report says officers knew Manlove and he was a drug trafficker known to carry weapons.
Police planned to block his Jeep with vehicles, and call Manlove to get out and get on the ground.
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Four RCMP officers drew their pistols and two other officers wearing body armour pointed carbine rifles at the vehicle. The police service dog was also called.
According to the report, an officer shouted "Do not reach for the gun, step out of your vehicle, show me your hands."
Evidence submitted in the investigation shows other officers radioed "He’s reaching for something," and "he's loading his gun."
One officer testified that he saw Manlove reaching over to the passenger side of the Jeep, believing he was reaching for the shotgun.
About 30 seconds later a shot was heard.
Officers then began shooting at the vehicle.
Manlove was killed and police reported he was found in the Jeep with the shotgun in his hand pointing upwards.
"The autopsy report showed that (Manlove) died from a total of 11 bullet wounds," the report says.
The report says there were no witnesses to the event and it was dark and raining on the night in question.
"Forensic evidence-gathering and analysis indicated that in the course of the incident, (Manlove's) shotgun was discharged once, apparently upwards through the sunroof of the Jeep," the police watchdog says.
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The police watchdog was tasked to assess whether the amount of lethal force used by the RCMP officers was justified.
The watchdog says while Manlove's shot was upwards police had "reasonable grounds" to believe he was shooting at them and to respond with lethal force.
One officer shot two bullets with his rifle, the other almost 30.
"While I have found it was clearly lawful for both (officers) to use lethal force, I must ask whether it makes sense for (the second officer) to continue shooting somewhere between 26 to 29 rounds in a relatively short period of time," the report says.
The reports say the officer had a "lack of weapon control" as a bullet hole was also found in a police vehicle.
The watchdog concluded that it was dark and raining and the officer knew Manlove was dangerous and believed he'd just fired at police, therefore it was reasonable to fire that many shots.
"It cannot be said that taking steps to make sure any threat was eliminated as soon as possible was unreasonable, even if that meant taking this many shots," the report said. "While (the officer's) actions may not have been perfect, they were not unreasonable and do not rise to the level of criminality."
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