Police fatally shoot Surrey mother who couldn't speak English - Update

Global is reporting that "Family and friends of a woman who was fatally shot by police in Surrey early Thursday morning say they’ve been left with many questions about what happened. RCMP and the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) say police were called to a disturbance at a home on 180A Street near 62 Avenue in Cloverdale. Investigators said the woman had locked herself in a room and was holding an unspecified weapon near a toddler."

"About an hour after Mounties arrived, police shot the woman following an interaction. The child was unhurt. The woman’s church community has identified her as Vanessa Valencia. Members of the Citywide Christ Church are now questioning how the situation was handled. Church pastor Gaston Ntabaza said Valencia’s husband had called 911 after an argument and needed help to calm her down. He said her husband insisted she had no weapon and posed no threat to her one-year-old child." No weapon, no threat. That's important.

"Neighbours told Global News they heard multiple commands being yelled including “drop the knife,” and “drop the scissors,” adding the situation went on for at least 30 minutes before the deadly shots were fired." There was plenty of time to react.

Was she holding a knife? Was she holding scissors? It reminds us of when the police start yelling stop resisting when they have someone down to justify giving them the boots when they aren't resisting. Was she holding a weapon or not? Was there a threat to the child or not?

"Valencia’s pastor said she had experienced a mental health crisis the day before she died, prompting police to look for her Wednesday evening after friends called 911 to report she had thoughts of suicide." If someone is threatening to commit suicide, you don't shoot them dead. None of us were there but there are different versions of this tragedy.

"Friends told Global News they don’t know if Valencia, a recant arrival from Colombia, even knew what was going on during the confrontation with police. 'Vanessa has zero, zero English communication skills,' Ntabaza said."

That is key. The police get all bent out of shape when a suspect won't immediately obey their direct command. It's a bit Dr Phil. In this situation the mother couldn't speak English and couldn't understand their direct command like the tragic RCMP taser incident at the Vancouver Airport.

All accounts say the stand off lasted a long time. There is not reason the police could have requested to have someone eon scene that spoke Spanish. That would have been a huge help. The husband said the police have de-escalation skills but do they? They should. I think we need more training in that. When I was with the Guardian Angels that was a big part of what we did.

We'd going in an help calm things down. Sebastian Metz was an expert at that. He was very good at diffusing situation. If it was an active violent situation he'd rush in and push people apart, but then he would also know what to say when to calm things down. He was also very good at calming things down before they got violent. That's an important part of police work and we need more training and more emphasis on it. The current policing model is they go in and out fast to deal with the situation and that isn't always the best approach.

Just to clarify, I am not anti police. I support law enforcement and I support Police on Guard. They are role models who believe in their oath to defended the Charter of Rights. There's good and bad everywhere you go. I don't support defunding the police. I support law enforcement.

A few years ago the Surrey RCMP were called in to a hostage taking when a man had a gun and was holding someone hostage. ERT came in. They shot the guy and the hostage. That was less effective. In the US there was another case where a cop shot a woman with mental health issues dead similar to the recent fatal shooting of the mother in Surrey. The body cam footage was horrific. She was obviously having an episode and he should not have shot her.

A few years ago a female cop shot a guy in the DTES who was mentally ill and came at her with a knife. She showed a great deal of restraint and put one in his leg. The spook said that was a bad thing to do because it set a bad precedent. Now all cops are going to be expected to do that when they are trained to put one in their chest and shoot to kill. In this situation the guy was obviously mentally ill. She would have been legally justified in fatally shooting him but she chose the higher road which I support.

A few years ago there was an incident in the old Safeway at Whalley. Someone who was mentally ill came in to the store with a knife and was suicidal. He wasn't threatening other people he was stabbing himself in the stomach.

An employee who witness the event said the self inflicted stab wounds were very serious. The Surrey RCMP came in and said drop the knife. He didn't so they shot him in his leg to distract him so they could take the knife away from him. They showed restraint. In the recent case with the Surrey mother, the husband said there was no weapons and no threat to their child.

I see two problems. One is the lack in conflict resolution training to diffuse situations, the other is sheer arrogance. As I said before this obsession with obeying their direct command is really Dr Phil. Obeying your command? Who the hell do you think you are? The abuse starts at depot. Trainees get abused at depot so they think that's OK. Then they start treating civilians who pay their wages and suspects that way.

Another example is the cop who arrested a guy in Kelowna. He pulled his gun on the suspect and ordered him to get on the ground. The suspect put his hands on his head and got down on his knees. The officer kept screaming get down on the ground. The suspect is confused thinking I am on the ground. What are you talking about. Then the cop kicked the guy in the face when he was submitting on his knees. The cop wanted him to lay flat on the ground and the suspect didn't understand him. So the pride element exists.

It also exists when an inexperienced cop is scared. Several years ago my daughter worked graveyard shift and I would pick her up after work because it was right in Whalley. One night right before we entered our complex a female cop jumped in front of me and stuck her gun in my face ordering me to stop. I pointed to our complex and said I live there. I'm just going home.

She screamed that there was a police incident and I was not allowed to enter. I asked her what was going on and she said it was a domestic violence incident and the suspect has a gun. She was so scared she was panicking. I said what, the screamer? I know her. Let me talk to them. She refused and kept waving her gun in my face. I finally said you need to calm down and point that firearm is a safe direction. My daughter was sitting right beside me.

I didn't notice if the cop had her finger on the trigger but I'm pretty sure she did. When a cop pulls their gun and yells an order their finger is usually on the trigger which is dangerous especially when they are scared and are panicking. Another example of that is the Hudson Brooks case.

Hudson was a skateboarder running for his life because guys were chasing him. The Surrey guys used to go there and beat on the skaters. One time they beat a skater to death. So Hudson was running scared yelling they're trying to kill me. He runs towards the cop shop for help.

A female cop panics and yells at him to stop. Hudson is scared and keeps running past her. In a frenzy she draws her gun and shoots herself in the foot. Hudson kept running. She radios in that she's been shot. They send the wolves out and one of the other cops shoots Hudson dead thinking he had just shot a cop. Then she says on the radio, I think I shot myself. The other cop didn't hear that part and shot Hudson dead. Then in the inquiry she lied and said she was the one that shot Hudson. She did not. Another cop did. The other cops were pissed she shot herself in the foot and they just fatally shot an innocent kid because of it so they made her lie.

She didn't regain her composure after she shot herself in the foot and empty her magazine into Hudson. He ran past her. He wasn't anywhere near her when he was shot. I admit it was a tragic accident but lying doesn't solve anything. The cop who did shoot Hudson is free to reoffend.