Coroner Says No to Video
By 250 News
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 07:32 PM
Coroner Shane De Meyer today refused two requests from the lawyer representing the Kevin St. Arnaud family to allow a video taped interview of Constable Ryan Sheremetta.
Sergeant Jim MacLellan was a Corporal at the time, and had conducted that interview within an hour of the shooting death of Kevin St. Arnaud in the early hours of December 19th 2004.
Lawyer Cameron Ward argued the taped statement to MacLellan painted an accurate picture of what the demeanor was following the shooting. He also suggested to MacLellan that he had been leading Sheremetta in what to say in the statement. Coroner Shane De Meyer said both of these RCMP officers had appeared before the Coroner’s inquest and he felt there had been sufficient time to question them about their actions on the night of Dec 18th-19th 2004. He added “I don’t see any value in playing the DVD, it is more important to have the testimony of the witness today then what took place 2 years ago.” De Meyer reminded all in attendance that the inquest is not about assessing blame.
Ward said a more accurate picture could be made by watching the video which was taken at the time of the shooting. Ward told the inquest that in the taped video, Sheremetta uses F…..k seven times and also used other colorful language. He also said he wanted to ask about the comment on the tape that Sheremetta says, “I slipped on my ass and fell down” while in another section Sheremetta says that St. Arnaud said “you’ll have to shoot me mother ...F…….er”. That, said Ward, flies completely in the face of what Constable Colleen Erickson had testified in which she said Sheremetta was standing with his arms outstretched with his gun in his hand, while St. Arnaud walked toward him. She said in her testimony that Sheremetta fired at least two rounds from a standing position. She also testified that St. Arnaud was walking towards Sheremetta when he was shot and the two men were about 10 to 12 feet apart.
MacLellan told the inquest he thought during the interview that Sheremetta seemed completely composed. MacLellan said he had been Sheremetta’s supervisor when he worked in Vanderhoof and had gone on some calls with him. When asked about the differing testimony between Const Sheremetta and Const Erickson, MacLellan said inconsistency between people occurs every day in their testimony and he didn’t find it unusual that Erickson’s testimony differed from that of Sheremetta. He described Constable Erickson as a police officer with impeccable credentials. MacLellan told the inquest that after taking Sheremetta’s statement, he made a call to Sherametta’s Lawyer, “I made arrangements with Constable Sheremetta to make contact with his Counsel, and called that Lawyer at 4:05 a.m.” That call was made before interviewing Constable Erickson
Sergeant MacLellan added that if the evidence is not there then the Crown will not approve the charges.
Earlier in the day the two Paramedics who attended the scene of the shooting testified. Drew Hunsaker said he took St. Arnaud's pulse about 1:30 Am., Dec 19th and determined that he was dead. He testified further that he bandaged a small cut on Sheremetta's hand and during that conversation Sheremetta told him that he might have received the cut “when I was wrestling around in the snow” with St.Arnaud. When Hunsaker asked him how the man lying there in the soccer field had died, Sheremetta replied that he had shot him. Another Paramedic Jim Vanderploeg said when he arrived, “There was a body lying there and about 15 to 20 feet away Sheremetta was standing” He said “When we drove up we saw a young male standing there with a hood over his head watching what was going on. I mentioned to police on the scene and I don’t know what they did with it.”
The inquest continues Thursday.
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Posted by: trusted on January 25 2007 9:01 AM
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