THUNDER BAY — Two Thunder Bay Police Service officers became noticeably agitated and upset during testimony in the coroner’s inquest into the death of Emmanuel Oruitemeka, denying that racism had anything to do with his treatment and feeling that blame was being directed at officers.
“I admitted I did things wrong and should have done things in a different way and I hope people learn from this,” said Const. Tyler Blair during the end of his testimony on Thursday. “My god. You don’t understand how bad you people are making me feel.”
Blair was one of three Thunder Bay Police Service officers to testify so far at the coroner’s inquest that opened on Tuesday.
The inquest is examining the circumstances surrounding the death of 25-year-old Oruitemeka, who died in hospital on Feb. 16, 2014, four days after he became unresponsive while in the custody of the Thunder Bay Police Service inside the Balmoral Street headquarters.
Oruitemeka was arrested on Feb. 12, 2014, in the Trillium Way area after police received reports of three Black men, one possibly carrying a gun, chasing another man.
After being placed in custody, Oruitemeka was described as agitated while in the back of the police cruiser. Upon arrival to the police headquarters, Oruitemeka became limp and unresponsive.
When paramedics arrived, it was determined Oruitemeka did not have any vital signs and he was rushed to hospital where he died four days later.
A post-mortem report determined Oruitemeka died as a result of his brain not receiving enough oxygen due to a cardiac collapse caused by the ingestion of cocaine.
Sgt. Greg Stein, now retired, was called to testify on Wednesday. Stein was one of the first officers on the scene and conducted the arrest of Oruitemeka.
During questioning by Rick Frank, counsel for the Oruitemeka family, Stein was asked about his use of the word ‘negro’ when describing the suspects at the scene.
“Have you ever used the word negro to describe a Black person?” Frank asked.
“In my recollection in my years on the face of the earth, I may have used it one time on this particular day,” Stein said. “Why I would use that word, I have no idea. It was a fluid situation. If I used the word, if I’m guilty of something, I apologize. I am not a racist person.”
Stein said he did everything he could to help Oruitemeka at the scene. When asked if Oruitemeka was treated any differently because he was Black, Stein said he was not.
But Stein added: “He probably got treated differently because he was Black, in the sense that we treated him with kid gloves.”
“If I use the term with kid gloves, I apologize,” Stein added later. “But we handled this man respectfully. There was no way I, or anyone there, was going to do anything stupid to jeopardize our reputation for that person.”
Stein took issue with the line of questioning, saying several times that race had nothing to do with his or any of the other officer’s actions that day.
“I am going to say that this very unfortunate this incident is becoming about race,” he said. “A man died unfortunately, it had nothing to do with his colour. It’s sad that it’s going in that direction.”
When asked about reports examining systemic racism in the Thunder Bay Police Service, including the Broken Trust report prepared by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director in 2018, Stein said: “Some of the reports seem to be written with a bias they hope to find going into writing the report.”
Demar Kemar Hewitt, counsel for the Black Action Defence Committee, asked Stein if he believes there is an internal denial within the Thunder Bay Police Service regarding the existence of systemic racism.
“I would say yes there is,” Stein said. “I have dealt with people of all colour and their colour meant nothing to me. They all bled red. I don’t agree with all of their findings.”
On Thursday, Blair, who was one of two officers that transported Oruitemeka from the scene to the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters, began his testimony. He was also seen on the video recording inside the sally port and booking area of the police headquarters with Oruitemeka while he was unresponsive.
According to Blair, Oruitemeka was very active in the backseat of the police cruiser while being transported.
“He was constantly moving. It got to the point where it was almost: let’s hurry up and get him there,” Blair said. “He was kicking at the bars in the window, the plexiglass, the cage, and speaking his other language as far as I know.”
Blair added that at the time he did not have any concerns regarding Oruitemeka’s condition and when he became unresponsive at the police headquarters, he first assumed he was faking it.
“Did I think he was faking, yes I did,” Blair said. “The way he was a few minutes, last seconds ago, I kind of was like: 'alright, we’re not joking around here. Come on, let’s go.'”
When asked about police policies that someone in custody who is unconscious should be transported to hospital, Blair said a policy on a piece of paper is not the first thing on his mind in a situation like the one he was in with Oruitemeka.
“I wasn’t positive over what was happening. I was starting to have concerns but I don’t know yet,” he said. “This was a weapons call. Someone I don’t know yet. I don’t know if this is real or not. You have to understand that you have to make decisions fairly quick, but you also have to be certain of what you are doing.”
Blair added all the officers on the scene were competent officers, who all viewed the same situation.
“Not one of us said we need to get down there and administer first aid and there is a reason why four officers/human beings react the same way,” he said.
Throughout the testimony, Blair became agitated and upset, saying he feels like he is being blamed for what happened and that makes him feel uncomfortable.
“It has been with me for nine years and it’s stirring up a lot of stuff. I would like the jury to remember that this was a weapons call and there were drugs involved,” he said.
“I don’t know if they know there was a large amount of cocaine in his system that we obviously didn’t know about. You can ‘what if’ anything to death. It’s a human life. But, I would still like to remind what the big picture was.”
After the jury was dismissed on Thursday, Kevin Matthews, counsel for the Thunder Bay Police Service officers, expressed concerns about the proceedings of the day.
“The fact that at times, the examining of Const. Blair really did turn adversarial,” he said. “There were times I would suggest items that could have been left for argument were put to the witness. It has become an adversarial feel.”
Julian Roy, counsel for the coroner, disagreed with Matthew’s assessment, saying difficult questions are part of the process.
“I don’t share my friend’s concerns about this process being unusually adversarial. We have circumstances where a man died in police custody,” Roy said. “One of the purposes of an inquest is to provide reassurance to the public that there is no coverup and the authorities are taking very seriously every death.”
Presiding coroner, Dr. Bob Reddoch, said he did not get the sense that there was aggressive posturing by counsel during cross-examination.
But Reddoch added that his assessment is not the only perspective that is important in the proceedings.
“I will ask all counsel to take the temperature when you are examining and cross-examining witnesses, not only in your tone and posture, but are your multiple attempts to get a witness a question is a source of aggression,” he said. “I did sense that a little today.”
Testimony from the other officers present inside the police headquarters at the time is expected to take place on Friday.
