REGINA — On the third and final day of the public inquiry into the police-involved death of Geoffrey Morris, the jury returned with a series of recommendations for the Regina Police Service which included improving crisis training and collaborating with Indigenous elders.
The inquest, held by the provincial coroner’s office as mandated by law, examined the circumstances involved in the death of Morris, 41, in May of 2019.
Morris was shot by a member of the Regina Police Service during what police describe as a hostage situation in an apartment in the north central district of Regina.
He is one of only two people in the last 20 years to be shot and killed by an on-duty RPS police officer.
A five-person jury heard from more than a dozen witnesses during the inquest, including the officers who were on scene, RPS crisis negotiators, the coroner who conducted the autopsy and the officer who fired the shot that killed Morris.
Morris’s fiance and alleged hostage Jasmine Papaquash was not present to give testimony, nor was her sister who was in the apartment at the beginning of the altercation, despite being included on counsel’s witness list. Police statements from both women were instead included as exhibits, and offered some details about the incident.
Presiding coroner Brent Gough told the jury that their duty was not to find criminal fault, but to determine using facts what happened.
He also tasked them with classifying the means of death as either natural, accident, homicide, suicide or undetermined, and to provide, if they choose, any recommendations they feel could help prevent a similar death from occuring in the future.
Police testified that Morris was unwilling to engage with police during the 90-minutes they were on scene and that Morris intended for the confrontation to end with a fatal shot from police — commonly described as “suicide by cop.”
According to her statement to police, Papaquash said that she “knew he didn’t want to live” and thought he did want the confrontation with police in May of 2019 to end fatally for himself.
She also told police that Morris had been dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts prior to that day. She said that he had spoken about committing suicide before and had overdosed in their apartment a few months before.
In her sister’s statement to police, she said that Papaquash felt the presence of police and their negotiations “were making it worse” and further agitating Morris that day.
Following the incident in 2019, family members of Morris’s publicly questioned the use of force by police officers during the altercation and wondered why other, less fatal options were not utilized.
Several police members said during the inquest that non-lethal weapons were considered but ultimately determined not to be viable options for the situation.
The Morris family also asked about whether officers are properly trained to handle crisis situations involving mental health and addictions, and if having more Indigenous representation at crisis scenes could help aid negotiations.
After nearly five hours of deliberations, during which they considered witness testimonies and submitted evidence, the inquest jury ruled that the means of death in Morris’s case be classified as suicide, as his actions intended to cause fatal harm to himself at the hands of police.
They also presented four recommendations to the Regina Police Service, which included calls to make several changes to policy and standard operating practices for officers moving forward.
The jury asked that the RPS crisis negotiation team only be allowed to deploy as a full unit with a psychologist present to arrive at a scene alongside them.
Previously in the week, the inquest heard that only two crisis negotiators were on the scene in the Morris case instead of a full team of five, and that the negotiators called a psychologist to attend the scene but they did not arrive in time.
The recommendations also called for all crisis negotiators and non-commissioned supervising officers to wear body cams when on scene, and all officers wear their radio earpieces as a standard practice.
Additional recommendations called for the creation of an emergency list of willing Indigenous elders who could attend a crisis scene to aid officers, either in-person or via digital communication.
Finally, the jury called on the RPS to change or review training policy to include annual certifications for mental health and crisis intervention training, addictions and psychosis training and de-escalation training for officers.
The recommendations will be provided to the RPS from the office of chief coroner of Saskatchewan Clive Weighill.
The family of Morris that was present did not wish to provide a statement to media, following the conclusion of proceedings.
Lawyer Aaron Fox, who was present on behalf of the RPS officer who shot Morris, said that he wasn’t surprised by the verdict and he feels it draws attention to larger issues in need of addressing.
“What’s tragic is that this is a man that obviously needed help in a number of areas, mental health, drug addiction,” said Fox. “Those aren’t easy answers, those are big volume issues that have to be addressed, but that came out loud and clear, to me, at this time.”
The full details of the recommendations provided at the conclusion of this inquest will be shared on the website of the Saskatchewan Coroners Service soon, said officials.
