Arkell fatal standoff led to armoured car purchase

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on June 15, 2022.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

A 2014 standoff that escalated within an hour from initial contact to shooting the suspect dead, led to several operational changes within the Medicine Hat Police Service and the purchase of an armoured car.

Local police officers testifying at this week’s fatality inquiry into the shooting of Christopher Arkell said they followed procedure as best they could in the dynamic and rapidly evolving incident which took place in Cypress County.

Had the standoff gone on long enough, they would have handed control over to an RCMP swat team which was en route from Red Deer, said Sgt. Jeff Weischorster.

He was the patrol supervisor on March 22, 2014, handling the scene and directing officers to contain Arkell who was pointing a high-power rifle from the porch of his trailer home.

He said there were few non-lethal options for officers to subdue Arkell, who was holed up in a rural residence before showing police a dead body then attempting to flee in an SUV before a sniper killed him.

It led to the decision by the department to purchase the service’s armoured car later that year.

“They felt it was a piece of equipment that could have been used in those situations,” Weischorster told the inquiry.

“We would not have had officers hiding behind a regular patrol unit … it would have expanded the use-of-force options.”

The second day of the inquiry in Medicine Hat Provincial Court heard that local response to the standoff was challenging and had to adapt several times over the course of an hour.

Weischorster said he would not have risked officers’ lives attempting to get close enough to deploy tear gas, pepper spray or fire rubber bullets.

Sending a police dog was also negated as too difficult, and disabling the tires with gun shots was considered not effective.

He said the situation fit the criteria laid out by the department’s policy on the use of lethal force: that the subject be suspected of a serious crime, that they are in progress of committing grievous harm or escaping, and that no other options are available.

Believing he would act on his promise to kill police officers, a police sniper was given the go-ahead to shoot Arkell as his truck rolled toward the range road.

An ASIRT investigation conducted immediately following the shooting found the use of lethal force was justified. The RCMP took over the scene and the investigation later that day after arriving from Red Deer.

Medicine Hat police added the $275,000 armoured vehicle to their fleet budget later that year, causing a local controversy when city councillors initially balked at its purchase. But police argued it would have been employed six times to protect officers or deploy non-lethal means of subduing suspects, and council eventually approved the purchase in a split vote.

Police responded to the unfolding situation in Cypress County while only having time to initially brief an RCMP emergency response team in Red Deer.

It began around 1 p.m. that day, and was resolved by 2:30 p.m.

The inquiry will pivot today to what role the RCMP played in the standoff.

Over the first two days of the inquiry MHPS officers testified that Arkell was agitated and enraged that officers wouldn’t give way so he could escape southward toward a major highway access.

They arrived at the property after spotting Chester Hunchak’s black Cadillac Escalade in the driveway of a rural property about 500 metres south of S. Boundary Road on Range Road 60. They retreated to the roadway after Arkell brandished a rifle with the first officer taking up position behind his front tire with the vehicle between.

On Tuesday the inquiry heard tapes of negotiations between local police and Arkell who initially called 911 demanding to speak with the officer who was blocking his driveway.

He was instead patched through the police radio system to Sgt. Weischorster, who was heading to the site, but pulled over at the former Maple Avenue fire station and was tasked with both talking with Arkell and attempting to direct officers until he was met by Const. David Allan, the officer on duty with negotiation training.

At times on his own phone, Weischorster’s phone and even the phone of Arkell’s common-law wife, who arrived at the scene.

Arkell demanded his wife be let through so he could kiss her before killing himself, said Allan in earlier testimony.

“We weren’t going to allow that,” said Allan. “The goal of any negotiation is safe resolution for everyone, including the subject.”

After the incident, Allan was made lead negotiator and created a “go bag” containing a dedicated phone, recording device, forms and manuals negotiators that would be carried by whichever officer with negotiations training was on any given shift. It also contains a phone unit that can be tossed into a unit for a subject to use.

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