B.C.'s independent civilian oversight agency is recommending charges against a Revelstoke RCMP officer who may have committed offences in a shooting incident two years ago that killed a man along the city's major road.
Just before midnight on Aug. 27, 2023, a Revelstoke police officer located and approached a man driving a reportedly stolen vehicle along Victoria Road East, somewhere between Mackenzie Avenue and Downie Timber Ltd.
"There was an interaction, and shots were fired by police," Simon Druker, media and communications liaison for the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO), shared in a release Tuesday, June 10.
Emergency health services responded but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, following his encounter with RCMP in what the IIO called back on Aug. 29, 2023, a "police-involved shooting incident."
The IIO was notified within 20 minutes of the incident, "and commenced an investigation to determine what occurred leading up to and during the interaction with the officers, and what role police actions or inaction may have played in the person鈥檚 death," Druker said.
According to the IIO, chief civilian director Jessica Berglund determined that "reasonable grounds exist to believe that one officer may have committed offences in relation to the use of force." Now, the IIO has referred the matter to the BC Prosecution Service for consideration of charges.
"In order to approve any charges, the BC Prosecution Service must be satisfied that there is a substantial likelihood of conviction based on the evidence gathered by the IIO, and that prosecution be required in the public interest," Druker added.
"While the matter is with Crown, the IIO will not be making any additional comment about the facts of this case."
the sister of the man shot by Revelstoke RCMP took to social media to identify him as Garry Pashe Jr., a 24-year-old man from Portage la Prairie, Man.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want him viewed as just another statistic or a violent criminal or an unknown male who was shot and killed by police,鈥� Mellisa Pashe shared in a post on Facebook.
