HALIFAX -
A senior Nova Scotia Mountie concerned within the response to the worst mass taking pictures in trendy Canadian historical past informed an inquiry Tuesday that confusion was inevitable because the police drive quickly constructed a "beast" of a corporation to cease an energetic shooter.
The fee of inquiry is investigating how a person disguised as a Mountie and driving a reproduction RCMP cruiser managed to kill 22 folks on April 18-19, 2020, earlier than he was shot lifeless at a fuel station by police 13 hours after his rampage started.
Sgt. Andy O'Brien, who's now retired, confirmed Tuesday he was off responsibility and had consumed 4 to 5 drinks of rum over a four-hour interval when he discovered from an officer that a suspect was taking pictures folks and setting hearth to houses in rural Portapique, N.S., about 130 kilometres north of Halifax.
"Any time that you have been consuming, to go to work would name into query the integrity of any decision-making," mentioned O'Brien, the RCMP's operations non-commissioned officer for Colchester district.
"I used to be not intoxicated, however that is not the purpose. There's all the time going to be a notion if persons are conscious you may have been consuming ... that you simply're compromised."
Nonetheless, O'Brien requested his spouse to drive him to the RCMP detachment in Bible Hill, N.S., the place he retrieved his transportable radio and returned dwelling to offer recommendation to responding officers.
The inquiry has heard there was confusion over who was in cost that night time. Certainly one of three commissioners main the inquiry -- former Fredericton Police chief Leanne Fitch -- has described a "appreciable breakdown in communication."
On Tuesday, O'Brien informed the inquiry the RCMP's method of dealing with high-risk, complicated incidents was akin to constructing a big enterprise in a matter or minutes or hours.
"There's all the time going to be rising pains in any construction, particularly one you create on website in a ridiculously quick timeframe, with a totally new or unknown enterprise aim," he mentioned. "There are going to be crossed wires. There's going to be duplication of effort. There are going to be issues which are missed."
O'Brien mentioned this course of, although flawed, is exceptional for its flexibility.
"We've got a protracted historical past of figuring issues out on the fly," he mentioned. "We're all very acquainted with the idea of, 'That will not fall precisely inside my job description, but when it must get completed, it will get completed."'
Anna Mancini, a lawyer for the fee, drew O'Brien's consideration to his response when an officer in Portapique requested through two-way radio if a second staff of Mounties might be a part of three colleagues who had already entered the darkened enclave to cease the energetic shooter at round 10:25 p.m.
When the request got here in, O'Brien mentioned he waited for "what appeared like a lifetime" earlier than deciding to instruct the officer to face down as a result of a second staff working at nighttime might result in a harmful crossfire.
"This was a case of me figuring out the reply and never listening to anybody reply," he mentioned. "Clearly, not one of the (different senior officers) heard the transmission ... or was able to (reply)."
In earlier testimony, the district commander for the realm, Employees Sgt. Allan Carroll, mentioned he was stunned to listen to O'Brien's voice over the radio as a result of he thought his colleague was at dwelling. Carroll additionally mentioned O'Brien could have breached RCMP protocol by overstepping his authority.
"He ought to have run it up the chain, run it as much as the opposite folks," Carroll testified final week.
Earlier this yr, a federal labour investigator concluded the RCMP operation lacked clear management and created "an atmosphere of confusion" for front-line officers.
Whatever the protocol, O'Brien remained concerned within the decision-making till 3 a.m. the following morning. He was later assigned to handle the crime scenes in Portapique, the place 13 folks had been killed throughout a 40-minute span earlier than the killer escaped by driving down a little-used path.
O'Brien described offering recommendation to officers as they looked for the killer in Portapique on the primary night time, together with tips on the RCMP's coverage for coping with high-risk incidents.
"I've a really sturdy sense of duty for the members," he mentioned, pausing to take care of his composure. "I misplaced a member in 2017 who labored for me. My nightmare that night time was that I used to be going to lose one other member."
O'Brien was the third senior Mountie to be granted particular lodging by the fee. Final week, the fee determined O'Brien and Employees Sgt. Brian Rehill could be exempt from having to face cross-examination from attorneys who symbolize family of the victims.
That call, which was primarily based on unspecified well being issues, prompted protest marches outdoors the listening to room. As effectively, a lot of the victims' households informed their attorneys to boycott the proceedings final week and this week, prompting hypothesis about dwindling public belief within the fee.
The testimony of O'Brien and Rehill was recorded in a largely empty resort convention room. The contents weren't launched to the general public till their testimony was accomplished.
Rehill informed the inquiry Monday there was a lot info to course of on the primary night time that it felt like being hit by a tsunami. He admitted that his plans to dam the killer's escape from Portapique have been thrown off by a subordinate's "misunderstanding" and a crush of competing duties.
"I've to personal that," he mentioned. Rehill mentioned he nonetheless suffers from nightmares, poor sleep and fixed reminders of what occurred two years in the past.
Final week, Carroll testified through a Zoom name, however he did face cross-examination from collaborating attorneys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Might 31, 2022.
-- With information from Michael Tutton.
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