2 Mounties plead not guilty to manslaughter in death of Wet'suwet'en man - Action News
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British Columbia

2 Mounties plead not guilty to manslaughter in death of Wet'suwet'en man

Two RCMP officers charged with manslaughter in the 2017 death of Dale Culver, a Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan man, have pleaded not guilty.

3 other RCMP officers charged with obstruction of justice in Dale Culver's 2017 death in Prince George

Two women lean against each other for support, both with somber faces.
The families of two men who died in RCMP custody console each other outside the Prince George courthouse in June 2023. Laura Holland, right, is Jared Lowndes's mother, and Virginia Pierre, left, is Dale Culver's aunt. (Betsy Trumpener/CBC)

Two RCMP officers charged with manslaughter in the 2017 death of an Indigenous man in Prince George have pleaded not guilty.

Thetwo officers charged with manslaughter, Const. Paul Ste-Marie and Const. Jean Francois Monetteweren't present in the Prince George courtroom for their arraignment Tuesday.

They entered their pleas through their lawyers, who appeared remotely by video on a console that was only partly visible to the gallery inside the small courtroom.

B.C.'s police watchdog says RCMP encountered Dale Culver on July 18, 2017, after responding to a report of a man casing vehicles. RCMP say Culver tried to flee on a bicycle. He was pepper sprayed and placed in the back of a police cruiser.

Culver, aWet'suwet'en and Gitxsan man and the father of three children, had trouble breathing and later died in hospital

A youthful-looking Indigenous man with a sideways baseball cap smiles wide at the camera in front of a red velour background.
Dale Culver was the father of three children. He died in RCMP custody in Prince George in 2017. (Submitted by Tracy Speed)

Outside the courthouse, Culver's cousin, Wesley Mitchell,rememberedCulver for his positive influence.

"He could walk into a room where there was sorrow going on, where a lot of people were lost, and he could bring our spirits up."

In March and again in May, Culver's familymembers travelled from B.C. and Alberta to Prince Georgeto attend arraignment hearings, only to have the court proceedingspostponed at the last minute.

On Tuesday morning, the arraignment proceeded, but it took less than 15 minutes, happening so quicklythatCulver's family and friends, who were consoling each other outside the courthouse,didn't reach the courtroom in time to observe the proceedings.

People with sad faces hold up a red and black banner that says
The families of Dale Culver and Jared Lowndes unfurl a banner made by Lowndes' mother, Laura Holland. (Betsy Trumpener/CBC)

Drummers from Prince George played an Indigenous healing song as some of Culver's family members wept and hugged each other.

Laura Holland, the mother of a B.C. police shooting victim, had travelled to Prince George to be with them.

Her son, Jared Lowndes, a Wet'suwet'en man,was shot by RCMP outside a Tim Horton's in Campbell River in 2021.

A person at a rally holds a hand-made sign that says
People show support for Laura Holland, mother of Jared Lowndes, a Wet'suwet'en Nation man who was fatally shot by RCMP in July, 2021. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

"It's really important to be here because these are my people," she said.

B.C. Assembly of First Nation's regional Chief Terry Teegee said he was there to "seek some semblance of justice."

An Indigenous woman holds a framed picture of a smiling man outside a building.
Virginia Pierre holds a photo of her nephew, Dale Culver, outside the Prince George courthouse in May, 2023. (Betsy Trumpener/CBC )

Nearly six years after Culver's death, charges were laid against five RCMP officers.

The datefor the preliminary inquiry for the two officers charged with manslaughter hasn't yet been set.

Three other Mounties, Const Arthur Dalman, Const Clarence Alexander MacDonald, and Sgt Bayani [Jon] Eusebio Cruz, face charges of obstruction of justice and will be arraigned in July.