Closing arguments are scheduled today in the jury trial of two Alberta Mounties charged with manslaughter.
const. Jessica Brown and Cpl. Randy Stenger is accused in the fatal shooting of Clayton Crawford on July 3, 2018, near Whitecourt, northwest of Edmonton.
Both officers testified that they feared for their safety and acted in self-defense.
The two shot Crawford 10 times when he was in a purple van at a rest stop.
A day earlier, a truck with the same description was seen leaving the area of a shooting in the hamlet of Valhalla Center.
When RCMP were notified that the truck was at the rest stop, court heard there was confusion over whether its driver was considered a target or suspect in that shooting.
The jury was also told that when Brown and Stenger approached the truck, the man appeared to be asleep in the driver’s seat.
Brown testified she saw Crawford get between his legs. A third officer broke the driver’s window with a baton and there was a struggle.
Brown said Crawford started the truck and began backing up. She said she thought he was using the truck as a weapon and she feared for her life and the lives of her colleagues.
Stenger testified that Crawford tried to run them over, and it was an automatic reaction for him to fire his gun.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
