The investigation into the case of an inmate who died after an hours-long standoff with corrections officers has moved a step closer after a judge granted justice to six parties who will be allowed representation in the trial.
William Ahmo, 45, died in hospital on February 14, 2021. Seven days earlier, a Sagking Indigenous man was handcuffed, pinned to the ground, placed in a “hood” and tied to a chair in the common area of his unit after a three-hour standoff at Headingley Correctional Centre.
At an hour-long hearing Tuesday, provincial court Judge Victoria Cornick granted justice to the Ahmo family, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Corrections, General Health, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and the John Howard Society.
SUPPLIED Will Ahmo with his son Emory. Ahmo died while a prisoner at Headingley Correctional Facility on 7 February 2021. William Ahmo Winnipeg Free Press 2021
An investigation is conducted when someone dies as a result of the use of force by a peace officer or when the death occurs while in custody.
The purpose of the investigation is to determine the facts surrounding Ahmo's death and, if necessary, make recommendations to prevent future deaths in similar circumstances, Cornick said.
“This investigation is focused on individual facts surrounding the circumstances surrounding (Ahmo's) death,” Cornick said, cautioning that the trial should not be politicized.
“While social context and Indigenous perspectives and experiences are important… this investigation cannot and will not be a larger investigation into the criminal and correctional systems as a whole,” she said. “Nor will they provide a propaganda platform for social and public interest groups to broadcast broader messages beyond the very limited scope of what the investigation is intended to achieve.”
Cornick, at the request of investigating lawyer Kerry Unruh, ordered production orders to be issued to extract relevant documents and evidence in the hands of Shared Health, Manitoba Corrections and the RCMP.
No dates have been set for the investigation, which is not expected to begin for at least a few months.
Last year, a judge found Robert Jeffrey Morden, the corrections officer who led the tactical team that responded to the standoff, not guilty of criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessaries of life.
At his trial, the court heard evidence that Ahmo flew into a violent, destructive rage after being told a racist joke, leaving dozens of inmates on his unit locked in their cells.
“While social context and Indigenous perspectives and experiences are important… this investigation cannot and will not be a larger investigation into the criminal and correctional systems as a whole.”
Manitoba's chief medical examiner ruled Ahmo's death a homicide due to traumatic brain injury caused by a heart attack as he struggled to breathe.
Pathologist Dr. Charles Littman testified that Ahmo was in an “extremely agitated” state and exhausted when he was forced to lie prone for several minutes with his chest pressed to the floor, making it difficult for him to breathe.
The inmate had an enlarged heart, was obese, and was pepper-sprayed three times before his arrest, all of which compromised his ability to breathe effectively, Littman said.
Video played in court showed Morden and other guards storming the premises and firing chemical irritant rounds at Ahmo as the inmate stood in a second-floor walkway.
Ahmo, waving a broken broom handle, approached the officers, who forced him to the floor. Ahmo screamed and squirmed as officers pounced on him, pinning his face and neck to the floor.
He told officers more than 20 times while on the floor, “I can’t breathe.” The motionless Ahmo was placed in a chair, after which he was found to have no pulse. A code red was issued.
Crown prosecutor Jason Nichols said the officers were not trained to use a restraint chair, which would have compromised Ahmo's ability to breathe in the circumstances. Nichol said that under the prison's use of force policy adopted in 2019, the chair could only be used in cases where an inmate posed a risk of self-harm.
“The defendant was surrounded by medical personnel on whom he had a right to rely.”
But provincial court Judge Tony Celliti said he accepted testimony from a use-of-force expert who told the court that corrections officers were in fact still operating under a 2017 policy that allows officers to use the chair to control and restrain violent inmates.
“This provides important context when I consider the element of objective failure in this case,” he said.
Cellitti said Morden had every reason to believe that Ahmo's comments that he couldn't breathe were the result of pepper spray, “especially given that Mr. Ahmo continued to struggle, resist and struggle, and given that Mr. Ahmo was breathing heavily at times (in the video) … which would have been visible to those present … including the defendants.”
The trial was told Ahmo was assessed by a nurse and two members of Morden's team before he was placed in a chair and became unresponsive.
“The defendant was surrounded by medical personnel on whom he had a right to rely,” Cellitti said. “However, medical intervention would only have been possible if Mr. Ahmo had not behaved belligerently and resisted in the way he did.”
Dean Pritchard – newspaper court reporter Free press. He has been covering the justice system since 1999, working for Brandon Sun And Winnipeg Sun before joining Free press in 2019. More about Dina.
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