Clyde River man shot and killed in incident with RCMP

This happens on wear red day for murdered, missing women and girls. The person who was killed is going to have huge impact on his family and his huge extended family, all across Nunavut.

There is an old saying “Only a fool brings a knife to a gunfight!”

Why would anyone want to get into a fight with a constable who is trained in hand-to-hand combat AND carrying a loaded gun AND has the permission and blessing of the government to use the gun! WHY !

How many of these senseless “self-inflicted death by cop” incidents must happen for some people to realize that when you fight a better-trained opponent with better weapons… you will lose every single time?

There is a very simple process that if followed, ends up with a much more favorable outcome.

A police officer says “STOP and put your hands up”… just stop and put your hands up. Get arrested. Go to jail. Then avail yourself of the justice system that exists for your protection! Sue for wrongful arrest and retire off of the proceeds if you were truly in the right and the officer was wrong.

But the moment you get in a physical fight, the constable says “I felt my life was in danger” and he’s justified in blowing your brains out! What part of that is so difficult to comprehend? That officer walks away with a medal for bravery, and nightmares for the rest of their life for killing a fool. While your brains paint some wall. Nothing about that scenario is good for the community, the dead person’s family, the officer, the money wasted on investigations… and things really suck for you cuz you’re dead! Everything about that scenario is just wrong. Also, it was 100% avoidable if he just stopped and put his hands up when ordered, yes ordered since the constable has the authority to give that order.

Without knowing any facts of the event, I’ll go out on a limb and say, the guy was intoxicated, and he, not the officer initiated the fight. The officer was responding to a “disturbance call at a residence”… so the officer will end up being a hero for saving someone or breaking up an assault or something like that. A hero with the memories of the life they took.

We live in one of the few countries in the world where law and order prevail. It’s by no means perfect and there are many wrongs that need to be remedied. But those are the exceptions, not the rule. Yet, things often escalate and spiral out of control when average citizens, ignorant of the law and disorderly (usually because they are drunk) decide they have some right to get in a physical fight with a constable who represents the government’s justice system. More often they end up paying for that error in judgment with prison time, and in some cases, with the only thing of value they actually possessed, their life.

The investigation will take time, too much time. No matter how long it takes it won’t bring the dead back to life.

Tomorrow, or the next day, some other drunken fool will decide to test himself on some other constable, and we’ll be reading about his foolish choice.

I’ll say this, I’d rather be wrongfully arrested than wrongfully shot dead. In fact, I’d rather be wrongfully arrested, than rightfully shot dead as well.

My condolences to the dead man’s family. At 31 he had many more years he could have enjoyed with them.

Also, my condolences to the officer, who has to live with the blood on their hands.

I hope those indeed kill inuit in our land will for ever suffer from this or deal. We didn’t not sign for killing but we are getting killed