Officer who fatally shot Winnipeg man in 2020 tells inquest he had few options
Stewart Kevin Andrews, 22, was 1 of 3 Indigenous people shot by Winnipeg police in 10-day span
A Winnipeg police officer who shot and killed a 22-year-old man five years ago believed he had to use lethal force after the man charged at him after swinging a metal bar, an inquest into the shooting heard Friday.
On April 18, 2020, Const. Cortney Olson fired multiple shots at Stewart Kevin Andrews as police responded to a gun call related to a robbery and broken windows in the Maples area of north Winnipeg.
The shooting of Andrews, a young father, was the third fatal police encounter involving an Indigenous person in the city over a 10-day period, after the deaths of 16-year-old Eishia Hudson and 36-year-old Jason Collins.
Manitoba's police watchdog investigated the incident, but no charges were laid.
An inquest into Andrews's death was called, as required under Manitoba's Fatalities Inquiries Act whenever a person dies due to a police officer's on-duty use of force.
Shortly after the shooting, police said the officers involved were responding to a gun call on Adsum Drive near Pipeline Road around 4 a.m. on April 18, 2020.
A resident who was putting out his garbage said he was confronted by two armed males who he said tried to rob him. The man said one of the assailants hit him twice with a shovel, while the other appeared to have a gun.
That person — a 16-year-old boy, who was safely taken into custody that morning — later told police the weapon he had was a BB gun, the police watchdog's final report said.
On Friday, the third day of the inquest, Olson said he and another officer responding to the call were led by a canine unit to a back lane, where they came around a corner and found Andrews and the 16-year-old boy.
While there were reasonable grounds to suspect the two had been involved in the robbery, Olson said he wasn't 100 per cent sure.
The officers identified themselves as police and told Andrews and the teen to stop. The teen fled, but Andrews stayed, and began swinging a metal bar in an aggressive manner, Olson said.
"The force of the swings was great enough that you could hear in the air … that swoosh," he told the inquest.
The officers told Andrews to drop the bar but Andrews yelled back at them, challenging the officers, said Olson.
"He said, 'Come on, come here, get over here, come on,'" he said.
Andrews took two swings at Olson's partner and the dog with the bar, but they were out of reach, the officer said.
Andrews then switched his focus toward him, moving closer before charging at him, Olson said.
"When he made up his mind … he was coming full force," Olson said. "That's when that [fear] became real."
He said he stepped to the side and fired five times.
Pepper spray, stun gun not an option: Olson
Inquest council Dayna Steinfeld asked Olson if he could have done anything differently to create distance between him and Andrews.
Olson told the inquest changing his position might have been possible, but his options were limited when Andrews charged at him.
"We are looking for two suspects, possibly armed with a firearm," he said, referring to initial information police had.
"If we back off and now Mr. Andrews runs away … we are potentially going to have more victims," he said. "Maybe we [would] be sitting here at the inquest of why I didn't do my job."
On the number of shots, Olson told the inquest officers are trained to fire until there's a longer threat, aiming at the body's centre mass instead of limbs.
WATCH | Winnipeg police officer grilled during inquest into fatal 2020 shooting:
Martin Pollock, the lawyer representing Andrews's family, suggested Andrews was swinging the pipe to protect himself from the dog.
He also asked why Olson didn't use pepper spray or a stun gun, but the officer said that wasn't an option under the circumstances.
"Having that blunt-force object in his hands and him refusing to disarm himself limits the response," Olson told the inquest.
He also said at the time, the other officer had a flashlight and the dog's leash in his hands, and so wasn't able to change to an "intermediate weapon," like a stun gun.
"So if I go to an intermediate weapon, well now we don't have a use of force coverage on a man who's already armed and has shown intent," Olson said.
Asked by the inquest council if he thought he could have done anything differently, Olson replied he didn't think so.
The inquest is expected to continue Monday, with the other constable at the scene scheduled to testify.
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