As the year draws to a close, outgoing Edmonton police chief Dale Mcfee reflects on a police shooting earlier this year, that shocked Edmontonians.
According to a statement of facts, on June 29th of this year, Edmonton police say they were called to a single vehicle collision involving an impaired driver who fled the scene in the city’s north east.
Police say it was 28-year-old Mathios Arkangelo, finding him just blocks away in a nearby neighbourhood.
There is security camera footage from the area that shows Arkangelo walking around the north east Edmonton neighbourhood when a police officer pulls up and gets out of his vehicle with his weapon drawn.
Edmonton Police Service say Arkengelo took out a pocketknife and opened it, while refusing to comply with police orders.
Footage shows the officer firing multiple shots at Arkangelo, who then falls to the ground.
Moments later other officers arrive on the scene and begin first aid.
While the video footage drew outrage from Arkangelo’s family and some in the community, Edmonton’s police chief says it doesn’t tell the whole story but an investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) will.
“There’s generally more to these incidences than making a decision based on a 30-40 second splice of a video — where we’ve seen a bunch of bad course action come before — so I eagerly await that,” said Mcfee.
While the province’s police watchdog ASIRT is investigating the shooting, the family of Arkangelo are suing Edmonton police and chief Mcfee for over one million dollars.
CityNews reached out to the lawyer representing the Arkangelo family on Friday, through an email, and they responded that nothing has changed in the lawsuit.
Chief Mcfee told CityNews that while he sympathizes with the family, he’s waiting for the results of the investigation.
“Anytime something like this happens, we know there’s people that are hurting and for that, condolences, but to pin that on a slice of video, and say the officer was acting inappropriately, that’s not good practice either,” said Mcfee.