Family anxious to face cop who shot Tony Divers at upcoming inquest

Yvonne Alexander is steeling herself for what will undoubtedly be one of the most difficult moments of her life.

Someday soon, she will sit in a room across from the police officer who shot her brother, and hear for the very first time why he pulled his gun.

"We need to know who he is, and see him the person who killed my brother," she said.

"We're going to relive it all over again, but we have to know what happened and why why he pulled his gun, why he felt he couldn't talk to my brother."

The province announced last week that it will hold an inquest into the death of Divers, an unarmed man who was shot and killed by a Hamilton police officer. An inquest into his death is mandatory under the Coroner's Act.

The 36-year-old died in hospital on Oct. 1, 2016 after being shot on a busy downtown street right by Hamilton GO Centre.

Ontario's Special Investigations Unit ruled the officer who killed Divers was justified in believing his own life was at risk, fearing that Divers was armed and reaching for a weapon. He wasn't armed.

There's a lot of good cops out there. I just want them to have better training.-Yvonne Alexander

In its decision, the SIU said officers were responding to a call that said Divers had assaulted a woman, and thathe was armed,high on drugs, had a violent history and was considered "anti-police."

The report says when the officer confronted the Hamilton man, he started walking away from the officer, ignoring his calls to stop and get on the ground.

It says he then turned around with his hand in the waistband of his pants and took two steps toward him, taking something out from the front of pants and pointing it at the officer.

The officer fired two shots, one hitting Divers in the chest.

The officer's name has never been made public, but it will be at the inquest.

Officer did 'as he was trained to do,' union head says

Clint Twolan, the head of the union representing Hamilton police officers, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

But in a previous interview, he said the officer was acting in line with police training.

"The officer acted exactly as he was trained to do," he said.

Twolan also said the SIU's ruling marked "a huge psychological load" that was taken off the officer's shoulders.

Alexander says she and her family has had no such luck.

"It's been absolutely brutal," she said. "You never forget it. You hear a loud bang and think it's a gunshot. It's a horrible way to live."

Pushing for training

Inquests are called by a coroner after a death to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future. A jury can recommend procedures for governing bodies to adhere to, though they're under no obligation to do so.

Alexander says she is hoping that a jury will share her feelings that police need increased training in de-escalation techniques when dealing with people who are in crisis.

She also believes police should be equipped with body cameras, to remove any uncertainty during investigations into conduct. Divers's family will be represented by a lawyer at the proceedings so they can pose questions to witnesses and attempt to bring a focus to the issues they have deemed most important.

Hamilton policeand the local police boardhave repeatedly deferred the issue of lapel cameras, saying research doesn't show they're worth the money, and Canada doesn't have the same tensions between police and public as the U.S.

"You have to hope that the jury will make these recommendations and they will actually get implemented," Alexander said. "There are far too many police shootings of people in crisis.

"There's a lot of good cops out there. I just want them to have better training."

adam.carter@cbc.ca