Hudson Brooks and his mother Jennifer in a family handout photo.Beaudry Brooks/The Canadian Press
A coroner’s jury examining the police-shooting death of a 20-year-old in Surrey, B.C., has released its recommendations following a four-day inquest.
Hudson Brooks died in July 2015 when he was shot nine times as he advanced toward RCMP Const. Elizabeth Cucheran during a confrontation outside the Surrey detachment.
The first recommendation calls on the RCMP to increase training and improve communications related to incident management, and the second asks the Independent Investigations Office to send investigative material and findings to the RCMP so training can be improved.
The third recommendation urges the province to consider new technology for intermediate force options such as stun guns.
Cucheran, who fired a total of 12 times, testified she was terrified as the unarmed, barefoot Brooks ran at her wearing only boxer shorts and repeatedly screaming “kill me,” before pinning her under him when she fell while trying to back up.
She was originally charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon but those charges were stayed in 2019 and details released by the B.C. Prosecution Service said Brooks had alcohol and cocaine in his system at the time of his death.
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