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Manslaughter charges laid against two Prince George Mounties

Dale Culver, 35 and a member of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Nations, was arrested in Prince George on July 18, 2017.

Dale Culver died after an arrest by Prince George RCMP on July 18, 2017.
Dale Culver died after an arrest by Prince George RCMP on July 18, 2017. Photo by Facebook /PNG

Nearly six years after Dale Culver died in police custody, five Prince George RCMP officers have been charged in relation to the Indigenous man’s death.

Charges of manslaughter were approved against Const. Paul Ste-Marie and Const. Jean Francois Monette on Wednesday in Prince George Provincial Court, announced the B.C. Prosecution Service on Wednesday.

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Three other Mounties — Const. Arthur Dalman, Const. Clarence (Alex) Alexander MacDonald and Sgt. Bayani (Jon) Eusebio Cruz — were charged with attempting to obstruct justice.

The officers are scheduled to make their first appearance in Prince George Provincial Court on March 14.

Culver, 35 and a member of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Nations, was arrested in Prince George on July 18, 2017.

At the time, RCMP said officers were dealing with a report about a man casing vehicles and found a suspect who tried to flee on a bicycle. He was arrested after a struggle with officers and placed in the back of a police cruiser.

Officers noticed the man appeared to have trouble breathing and called paramedics. Once ambulance arrived, the man was taken out of the cruiser, but collapsed. He died soon afterwards, said RCMP.

In 2020, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. forwarded a report to the B.C. Prosecution Service for consideration of charges against the Mounties involved.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

In 2018, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association alleged that the association had “learned of troubling allegations that RCMP members told witnesses to delete cellphone video that they had taken.”

The association didn’t name any of the witnesses who made the allegations.

chchan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/cherylchan

— with files from Canadian Press