N.W.T. Mountie recalls finding slain officer

The head of the RCMP detachment in Hay River, N.W.T., recalled Wednesday the moment hediscovered Const. Christopher Worden shot to death behind an apartment building two years ago.

Detachment commander Sgt. Ron Rose was testifying at the first-degree murder trial of Emrah Bulatci, 25, who has already admitted to shooting Worden witha handgun.

Worden, 30, was gunned down while responding to a call for assistance early on Oct. 6, 2007, in Hay River, about 400 kilometres south of Yellowknife.

According to previous testimony, Worden was shot four times sometime after 5:30 a.m. MT in a wooded area behind an apartment building.

Police began searching for him roughly two hours later, first by searching the house at 55 Woodland Drive, where Worden's empty cruiser was parked. Officers also drove through town looking for him.

Rose testified that he and three other officers later began searching for Worden behind the apartment building when he heard a Hay River bylaw officer shout: "Man down!"

Rose said he will never forget seeing Worden lying on his side, slightly curled up on the ground, as the bylaw officer knelt beside him and called out, "Chris! Chris!"

Worden had blood on his face, which had turned blue, Rose told the court.

"I knew Chris was dead at that point," he said.

Widow wipes away tears

The bylaw officer was visibly upset, Rose said, and another RCMP officer was crying.

Jodie Worden, the officer's widow, wiped away tears as she listened to Rose's testimony in the Yellowknife courtroom. About a dozen off-duty RCMP officersalso attended the proceedings.

The jury also heard from Dean Korpesio, the first ambulance worker to arrive at the scene, who said he saw Worden laying on his right side and curled up in a semi-fetal position.

Korpesio testified Wednesday that he initially did not see wounds on Worden, but upon turning him over he saw Worden had an open wound in his neck.

While Worden was in the ambulance, Korpesio said, he also noticed the officer had two more wounds in his groin area.

An emergency room nurse at the Hay River hospital broke down as she described to the jury how she tried to revive Worden, who she said had no pulse.

The nurse testified that Worden was pronounced dead after she spent 15 minutes frantically trying to revive him.

A jury has been hearing Crown witness testimony since the seven-week trial began Oct. 21. Bulatci'slawyers have said he didn't intend to kill Worden.

Worden was from Ottawa and had served as an RCMP officer in the Northwest Territories since 2002. He had been based in Hay River, a town of about 3,650,since 2005. He is survived by Jodie Worden and their two-year-old daughter.