A B.C. judge has found an RCMP officer guilty of obstructing justice after the officer asked a member of the public to delete a video made during an arrest of a suspect who later died in police custody.
Two RMCP officers were charged; however, only Const. Arthur Dalman was found guilty.
“The allegation arises out of an investigation in which Constable Kim (“Kim”) was responding to a call of a person ‘casing motor vehicles,’” Judge Adrian Brooks wrote in his decision.
Const. Kim was attempting to arrest Dale Culver, who was riding a bicycle. Following a struggle between the two, Const. Kim called for assistance in the arrest, the court decision says.
Despite an ambulance arriving on the scene, the court documents note that Mr. Culver died a short time later.
Several police cars arrived, which included Cost. Dalman and co-accused Sgt. Bayani Eusebio Cruz. A crowd also gathered.
“Some of the persons who had gathered were taking pictures or videos. Dalman went to speak to one of those persons, Ken Moe,” Judge Brooks wrote.
In that conversation, it’s alleged that Const. Dalman asked Mr. Moe to erase the video from his phone.
“An argument occurred and Cruz, a supervisor, approached to assist. It is alleged that he too asked Moe to delete his video,” the court document says.
Judge Brooks said it was not in dispute that Mr. Moe had taken the video, or that he subsequently deleted it. He also said that the Crown had “proven beyond a reasonable doubt” that Const. Dalman gave the direction to Mr. Moe to delete a video recording.
As a result, Const. Dalman was found guilty of obstructing justice.
Manslaughter Charges Stayed
Two RCMP officers, Const. Paul Ste-Marie and Const. Jean Francois Monette, were charged with manslaughter in the death of Mr. Culver, but those charges were stayed in April.The Crown said at the time that a pathology report found Mr. Culver’s cause of death was connected to “acute and chronic adverse effects of methamphetamine.” The report determined he died as a result of cardiac arrest.
