Arkell, police interaction reviewed at fatality inquiry

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on June 16, 2022.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

Christopher Arkell told police to call him “Cowboy” as he threatened to shoot the policeman blocking the driveway to his Cypress County acreage on March 22, 2014, the officer in charge of the situation told a fatality inquiry this week.

He wanted out, wanted to see his wife, wanted to drive south, toward Township Road that would lead him to the countryside or maybe escape access to highways.

But not much is known about the man, who had no violent history with police, but was killed as he drove toward the road, away from a dead body that was hidden on the property.

“Mark Twain said truth is stranger than fiction, that’s because the truth has to make sense,” Cont. Dave Allan told the hearing Tuesday, describing his interaction with Arkell that day.

He was the chief police negotiator during the incident that lasted just 55 minutes from a patrol officer checking a lead into a missing person case to the shooting.

Arkell told Allan during rushed interactions he was armed with a 30-30 rifle pointed at a growing police presence, but later referred to it as a .303 calibre. He said he’d killed two people, and said he’d kill two cops if they blocked his way off the property.

When the RCMP searched the vehicle hours after a police sniper was given the OK to use deadly force they found a .22-calibre rifle in the seat beside him, and no sign of explosives loaded in a grain bin or accomplices, who Arkell said would keep police at bay.

They did find the body of Chester Hunchak behind a red Chevy Cavalier near the rear of the yard, which police observed moments before the fatal shot.

“I killed a guy, didn’t mean to do it … if you come up here, and I’m dead, then you’ll never know what’s really going on here,” Arkell told Allan on a recording played for the hearing Tuesday.

This week’s hearing only touches on Arkell’s mindset and situation as part of its main two-part focus: police action that day and the interaction between Medicine Hat police and the RCMP, which took over the case in its rural jurisdiction.

Two of Arkell’s relatives were not called as witnesses and chose not to attend this week’s hearing, which concludes today with RCMP officials on the stand.

Inquiries do not make findings of wrong-doing, but often include recommendations to improve police operations or help prevent accidents.

An ASIRT investigation in 2014 found no wrong-doing in the Medicine Hat Police Service’s handling or death of Arkell, that they couldn’t allow an armed man, who had likely killed already and who had threatened to kill police, get on the highway.

“It would have been very difficult to determine that he had a .22-calibre rifle from any distance,” said retired ASIRT investigator Andrew Johnson on Wednesday. “These events can happen fast or slow – and slower leads to better outcomes – but this was more about Mr. Arkell (driving the action), and the police trying to keep him contained.”

Anderson’s report was the most comprehensive report cited to date into the event, including Arkell’s responsibility in the death of Hunchak. The RCMP only confirmed that in 2016, criminal matters were complete and the current inquiry scheduled. Johnson interviewed relatives for his report, but wasn’t responsible for coming to a criminal conclusion.

“Arkell had spent some time in a remand centre a few months before and made the statement that he’d never go back. He had no history (with police) for violence, but some fraud matters.”

Allan described Arkell as ranging from relatively calm to enraged during the call, briefly described a personal grudge against the unnamed victim of the killing, later determined to be Hunchak. His black Escalade in the driveway tipped police to the location, as it and Hunchak were the focus of a missing person’s report the day before.

Ernest Lovely told the inquiry the two had met several years earlier working at a coffee shop. They were friendly and Arkell had hosted Lovely’s children on another property to ride horses. He’d lived on another rural property in a trailer without utility services, referred to only as “the coulee.”

That day, Lovely stopped by the acreage – a collection of vehicles, even a school bus, and out buildings and farm equipment – to collect partial payment “between $6,000 and $7,000” for selling two other vehicles.

The men had a cigarette on the porch, Lovely entered the home to use the washroom, but didn’t notice anything amiss, then asked Arkell about the Cadillac Escalade.

The men talked and Arkell told him to quickly leave when police pulled up, said Lovely.

“He was on the porch, wearing a cowboy hat and hollering at the cop to “let him (Lovely) go’,” recalled Const. Marshall Armstrong, who was the first officer to arrive.

24
-23