The judge who prepared a long-awaited inquest report into the death of a man shot by a Thompson RCMP officer during an attempted roadside stop found no red flags that could have predicted the Mountie’s actions and made no recommendations about preventing similar deaths.
Then-Const. Abram Letkeman shot 39-year-old Steven Campbell and his female partner (who survived), after a Nov. 21, 2015 chase that started over the officer’s suspicion Campbell was driving impaired.
“Letkeman’s decisions and actions were on his own accord and contrary to RCMP policy,” provincial court Judge Tim Killeen wrote in a 19-page report released Friday.
Then-Const. Abram Letkeman shot 39-year-old Steven Campbell and his female partner (who survived), after a Nov. 21, 2015 chase that started over the officer’s suspicion Campbell was driving impaired. (Handout photo / The Canadian Press files)
“Nothing in his background or training should have alerted RCMP to the potential for this behaviour.”
Campbell’s death was investigated by Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit, which recommended Letkeman face criminal charges.
Letkeman was found guilty after a 2019 trial of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, but acquitted of manslaughter. He was sentenced in January 2020 to three years probation, ordered to perform 240 hours community-service work and fined $10,000.
Letkeman, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident, was medically discharged from the RCMP in December 2019.
Prosecutors, who had argued Letkeman should serve three years in prison, appealed his sentence. In a July 2021 decision, the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled a three-month jail sentence was justified, finding that Court of King’s Bench Justice Chris Martin “understated (Letkeman’s) moral blameworthiness.”
The Appeal Court, however, stayed the sentence, as well as the previously imposed period of probation, citing the passage of time, Letkeman’s mental health and other factors.
The inquest heard testimony Letkeman was working alone, on patrol after bars in Thompson had closed for the night, when his attention was drawn to a Jeep being driven in a manner that made him believe its driver, Campbell, was impaired.
Campbell, the inquest heard, had been out celebrating his partner Lori Flett’s birthday. Campbell was suspended from driving at the time and the vehicle he was driving was unregistered, with a licence plate from another vehicle affixed to it.
Letkeman signalled for Campbell to pull over, but he continued driving, sparking a slow-speed pursuit.
Letkeman notified a dispatcher he was pursuing a suspected impaired driver before ramming the rear of the Jeep in an attempt to stop it, causing the vehicle to spin 180 degrees.
“He had not been trained to perform that manoeuvre,” Killeen said. “Even if he had been trained, the circumstances of the low-speed pursuit of a possible impaired driver did not call for such an action.”
Letkeman requested permission to continue the pursuit, but did not tell his dispatcher of the collision.
Permission “was granted, based on the significant omission,” Killeen said.
Letkeman followed Campbell outside the city to an ATV trail, as Flett and two passengers urged him to stop, without success.
The vehicles were travelling in thick brush when the Jeep came to a sudden stop and Letkeman intentionally T-boned the vehicle on the front passenger side, injuring Flett.
Letkeman had exited his cruiser and drawn his firearm when Campbell drove the jeep at him.
“There is no clear explanation as to why (Campbell) had continued to drive, despite knowing that the police were tying to stop him and being urged by his passengers to stop,” Killeen said.
The Jeep ran over Letkeman’s right foot as Letkeman fired off 11 rounds, nine of which struck Campbell.
Flett suffered a gunshot wound and a fractured pelvis.
While Letkeman did not commit a crime in shooting at Campbell, it was his own actions that put him in danger, Killeen said.
An autopsy found Campbell had a blood-alcohol level of .19, more than double the legal limit to drive, and had cocaine in his system.
Letkeman was justified in pursuing a suspected impaired driver, but not in forcing an intentional collision, and had other options available to him, including enlisting other officers to pick up the pursuit, Killeen said.
“A reasonable person, considering the danger and knowing that the driver did not stop, even after the first collision, would have discontinued the pursuit to avoid more harm,” he said.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.