“I feel like some of the recommendations are common sense, such as the need for communication. Perhaps if R.C.M.P knew who Donald Lewis was they would have been able to avoid this. I am not sure what to think about the taser recommendation. What I really feel is that R.C.M.P need more training with how to deal with people. I just don’t feel that the training in Regina is enough.”

I agree.

I don't agree with tasers in our police force at all. I am surprised that ongoing conflict resolution training wasn't a part of the recommendations.

I fear the day will come when people will demand the RCMP lay down their weapons. If you think the world is a happy place where conflict can be defused with a few kind words and some flowers, you're living in the wrong century.

Now what? So let me get this straight, you are a cop, kill someone, get an inquest, ruled as a homicide, carry on business as usual. Justifiable or accidental homicide?
No wonder these young boys want to become police officers, you can get away with Murder.

Now the civilian version. Kill a police officer, straight to trial, found guilty, go directly to the brickhouse.

Is the inquest process now becoming a means of avoiding prosecution for officers? Appears if nothing else is being accomplished as the rash of unjustifiable homicides continue.

"If you think the world is a happy place where conflict can be defused"

There was no conflict till the RCMP arrived. The fellow was breaking no laws by camping there as far as I can tell and as far as came out at the inquest.

Being, as they say in the USA, an illegal alien is no reason to kill ... the situation was escalated rather than difused. As others have said, the RCMP obiviously gets terrible training when it comes to dealing with people.

In this case, I am wondering whether a factor was that this fellow was an ex armed forces person. Actually anyone who wears a UN blue hat should be treating people better than this otherwise there will be dire consequences on an international scale.

We don't know if this was in fact a justifiable homicide. This is where I think the inquest failed us. We got the definitive "homocide" but we already figured that out before the inquest! Again, proper training and lots of mock practice in conflict resolution will be of great assistance to RCMP officers. Either way I hope that Cst. Brewer receives counselling, retraining in conflict resolution and is accompanied by another officer for a period of time on any future calls. If this incident was not a justifiable homicide he should be suspended without pay, attend mandatory counselling and sent back to Regina for retraining should the psychological assessment support it. If the assessment does not support it he should be fired. That is my opinion. My sense is that it was JUSTIFIABLE so let the Cst. alone.

Recommendation #7: Add a box of common sense to the new recruit kit issue. We should not need to hold inquest after inquest to guide them as to how to do a reasonable job as a police officer.

There are plenty of ex-military in the RCMP, a lot of them are more even-tempered due to their military training and experience (they are not as fearful as the average new recruit) and have the experience of dealing with very serious situations as opposed to trivial situations.

There was no immediate or impending danger, there was no need for Lewis to be arrested on the spot at all costs. He could have been allowed to flee, only to be arrested at a later time. If Lewis had been armed, nobody would have rushed in to arrest him, no matter what he had done, much less for "suspicious person camping".

Maybe if there were more accountability involved, this nonsense would stop.

All they have done thus far, is convince us that:

- if you are involved in a confrontational situation with the police and unarmed, you may be in grave danger

- if you are involved in a confrontational situation with the police and armed, they will stand on their head and recite the bible backwards if they have to, in order to negotiate a peaceful end to it

I don't know about anyone else, but in my days of policing I would much prefer to talk to an unarmed man, than to look down the barrel of a gun and beg for him not to shoot me with it.

Maybe I'm just out of touch with reality these days. Maybe they are too short-tempered for that approach these days.

I am an expert marksman and have a deep understanding of the level of damage done by gunfire. I will avoid squeezing a round at another human being at all costs. That is my opinion.

Maybe to clarify a bit here. The complaint was trespassing or whatever, but the offence the cop was going to arrest him on was obstruction of justice, which from what I read, if you break it down into laymans terms seems to be plain old lying to the police. Just like Ben stated in his article, the cop had a pretty good feeling that Lewis was lying to him, providing him a false name and lying to him about this motorbike, but had no idea who Lewis actually was, but did know one thing, he was being lied to. As it turns out, the reason for the lies appears to be Lewis' criminal past in both Canada and the United States, which Lewis knew, but the cop didn't, would see him deported from Canada yet again. I agree, that even this is not a reason to be killed, but if you read the story, it's not like the cop said liar liar pants on fire, then shot Lewis. There is quite a bit more to the story. A lot of information came out on Lewis being a Karate instructor.
Do people honestly believe that once a fight ensued that he wouldn't use it? Or was he like David Carridine in that TV series Kung Fu? Where he walked the earth looking for peace?
I know we only have one side of the story, but unlike some of the other incidents, at least this one seems to make some sense.

Yep. The guy said he was going to kill Brewer..said he was going to shoot him...shrugged off a couple of baton strikes and OC spray....grabbed for his gun belt and gun first....was acutally winning the fight and Brewer was out of energy with a bad finger gouge to the eye to boot. If lewis had gotten ahold of Brewer's gun, we'd be burying another mountie. It was one against the other with lewis screaming that he was going to kill Brewer. Lewis started the fight, lewis lost...and I believe Brewer was in fear for his life at that particular point in time and it appears that he fired as Lewis was in the process of using some karate hold to gain control of Brewer's gun.
I think its interesting how Lewis would keep always coming back into canada to be with his remarried wife...was he a stalker or something??? Once his wife was single again she wanted him back???? They both sound messed up to me.

R-man.Your Walter Mitty post aside I call BS on your policing experience.Mall security maybe, policing, not so much.