'It was the worst day of my career': Testimonies continue at inquest into the death of Geoff Morris

REGINA -

The inquest into the death of Geoff Morris brought a handful more members of the Regina Police Service to testify on day two.

Morris, 41, died on May 4, 2019 after Regina police were called to the 1900 block of Halifax Street around 6 a.m.

According to the Regina Police Service, Morris was found armed with two knives and holding a woman hostage. Police said one of the officers who responded to the call shot Morris and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Cst. Chad Mazurak, a member of the Regina Police Service’s SWAT team who was on scene but was not the officer who shot Morris, said he had a less lethal shotgun in the apartment with him that morning.

Mazurak testified to not using the less-lethal option due to his close proximity to Morris, and being unable to land a shot in what he called the desired range of the body.

Mazurak said he decided against using the less-lethal option due to his close proximity to Morris. He added he thought he would unable to land a shot in what he called the desired range of the body because Morris was holding the woman in front of him.

The “desired range” for a person’s front is from the stomach area to the thigh area.

Mazurak explained the minimum safety range for a less lethal shot gun is 20 feet, with a 75 feet maximum. At his range there is a chance the shot could turn lethal.

“In my training it wasn’t going to be something that has the desired outcome for that weapon,” testified Mazurak on Tuesday morning, adding he had a feeling it would further escalate Morris.

Members of the Crisis Negotiation Team who were on scene that morning also testified on Tuesday.

Cst. Chelsea Kotylak was the secondary negotiator on scene.

She said her primary negotiator, Cst. Karlene Phillips, could not get Morris to engage and she requested for a psychologist to come, but they didn’t make it to the scene before Morris was shot.

“I would’ve loved if he had talked to me that day,” said Phillips in her testimony.

Kotylak said she was on scene for about 36 minutes and negotiations were carried out the entire time.

In her role as the secondary negotiator, she said her responsibility was to find triggers the primary could use while engaging with Morris.

Kotylak said in the moment, Morris seemed “agitated and not responding” and “closure motivated.”

“[It was the] worst day of my career, not at all what I would want to happen to anybody,” said Kotylak.

She said the Crisis Negotiation Team has since made changes and deploys a full team of five, rather than the two who were at Morris’ apartment that morning.

While Kotylak said this would’ve helped the flow of communication between team members, she said that day would have had the same outcome.

The final officer to speak was Cpl. Devon Sterling, the responding officer who took the fatal shot that day.

Sterling said he stood in the hallway as he tried to problem-solve after arriving to the scene, before he was asked to go back out to his squad car to retireve his combine.

“The whole time I’m thinking, ‘I really don’t want to do this,’” testified Sterling. He said he hoped Morris would give a little in the negotiations.

Sterling said he waited as long as he could before taking the shot and it had come to the point where he had to do his job, which was to save the woman involved. He said he thinks about Morris everyday.

“There’s probably not a day that goes by I don’t think about that call,” said Sterling.

Morris’ family was then given a chance to ask questions. They said they wanted to know why Morris was targeted by police throughout his life.

“We are not bad people… Geoff was not a bad person,” said Morris’ mother.

A forensic toxicologist and a responding paramedic rounded out the witnesses for the day.

Toxicologist Kimberly Snider appeared via phone to give her testimony of the toxicology. She said her results found Morris was 20 mg over the legal limit of alcohol?.

She also reported finding methamphetapmine, amphetamine, fentanyl and methadone in Morris’ system.

While she could measure the presence of the substances, Snider said it is hard to tell intoxication levels as tolerance would depend on the user and frequency.

Testimonies are scheduled to continue through Wednesday, with more Regina Police Service officers on the schedule, as well as the woman involved in the hostage taking.

The inquest is scheduled to run until Friday at the Atlas Hotel. Coroner Brent Gough is presiding.