Special prosecutor appointed to review B.C. police shooting caught on tape

VANCOUVER – A special prosecutor has been appointed to review a 2007 police shooting in Vancouver that prompted renewed headlines last year after a previously unseen video of the incident surfaced.

Paul Boyd was shot multiple times after police responded to a 911 call about a disturbance in August 2007.

The officer who fired the shot told a coroner’s inquest that he believed Boyd, who at one point was carrying a bike chain, was armed when he fired the fatal shot and may have been wearing body armour.

But a video that surfaced last year showed Boyd crawling on the street before the fatal shot, prompting a review of the case by an Alberta agency that investigates police officers.

A news release from B.C.’s Criminal Justice Branch says the investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is finished and the file has now been turned over to special prosecutor Mark Jette.

Boyd was bipolar and was not taking his medication at the time of his fatal confrontation with police.