MAITLAND - News that the province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared two Ontario Provincial Police officers in the shooting death of their son actually came as a relief to John and Jody Roke.
Had there been charges going forward against the officers, they said Thursday, it would have delayed the work of getting a coroner's inquest called into the tragedy, with a view to changing the mental health system they say failed their son, Matthew.
“We just hope that good things come out of this,” said Jody Roke.
“Now, we can work towards changing the system to the best of our abilities.”
The acting regional coroner said Thursday his office is looking into calling an inquest into the tragedy, but needs more information before making a decision.
Matthew Roke, 33, who suffered from schizophrenia, was fatally shot following a confrontation with members of the Grenville County OPP near the carpool lot adjacent to the Highway 401 ramps at the Maitland interchange early in the morning of May 2.
The SIU, which looks into incidents involving police that result in death or serious injury, announced Wednesday it has cleared the two OPP officers who shot Roke, saying one officer feared for his life, while the other feared for the safety of his partner. The SIU investigation revealed Roke lunged at the officer while making underhanded spearing motions with his knife.
“When those police officers shot Matthew that day, we prayed for them,” said Jody Roke.
She said learning the details of the incident convinced her the officers were protecting themselves.
“They tried their best not to have to do that,” she added.
“The thing is that it shouldn't have got that far.”
The Rokes are hesitant to point a finger of blame at anyone, but say the mental health system in general failed them, and a coroner's inquest could help achieve the changes needed to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
In particular, the family repeatedly ran up against a system that does not allow caregivers to compel patients to take medication against their will, and does not act decisively unless people are a threat to themselves or others.
The night he threatened his mother with a knife, setting in motion the sequence of events leading to his death, Matthew had been agitated all day by a belief that his mother had left for a few days to arrange to have him placed in a group home in Southern Ontario, the Rokes said.
That was not the purpose of his mother's absence, although the Rokes did try to have Matthew put in a group home earlier, only to have him refuse, they said.
The home they had in mind was Homestead Christian Care, which has facilities in Woodstock and Hamilton that provide for more independent living for people with mental illness, said the Rokes.
Were such a facility to exist in this area, closer to home, they believe, Matthew would have been less resistant to the idea.
Making more resources available and putting fewer limits on intervention to help those who can't help themselves are two key reforms the Rokes hope to achieve through a coroner's inquest into their son's death.
Another is getting mental health professionals more closely involved in responding to incidents such as the one involving their son.
They would also like to see changes to police procedures involving tasers. The SIU notes neither of the subject officers was equipped with a taser, and the Rokes believe that option would have allowed them to subdue Matthew without killing him.
OPP Sgt. Kristine Rae, the force's East Region spokesman, said the Police Services Act currently specifies which officers can carry tasers and does not allow regular constables to carry them.
She would not comment at length on why there was not a taser-armed officer responding to the Roke incident.
Grenville County is a large area and the officer with the taser may have been far from the scene on another call, she noted.
“To say who was on duty when the call came and where they were, you can't guess on that,” said Rae.
The officers who responded were the same who had gone to the Roke house hours earlier and they were familiar with the matter, noted the sergeant.
The OPP would be happy to co-operate with any coroner's inquest should one be called, added Rae.
Dr. Peter Clark, who is filling in for the area's regional supervising coroner, Dr. Roger Skinner, said the office is aware of the case.
“We'll certainly look at the circumstances surrounding the death” to determine whether an inquest is warranted, said Clark.
“Serious consideration will be given to that.”
The regional coroner's office still needs more information before making that decision, said Clark.
“We don't want to do something if it doesn't need to be done, and if if does need to be done, we're all over it.”
SIDEBAR
INQUEST NECESSARY: CMHA
A coroner's inquest into the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Matthew Roke is necessary, says the executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Leeds and Grenville branch.
“It certainly gives an opportunity of analysis, in its entirety, of all that transpired,” Colin Slack told The Recorder and Times Thursday.
Slack said now that the SIU investigation has concluded, it’s “very appropriate” to request an inquest into Roke’s death.
While the SIU probe was focused on how the police acted and why, the agency does not ask broader questions about what could have been done to prevent the incident. A coroner's inquest “broadens the field,” noted Slack.
At the root of the kind of scenario that led to Roke’s death is a funding imbalance, Slack said.
Meanwhile, the shooting has undermined the confidence of people with mental illness and their families in the system, said Slack.
“I've had a significant number of calls from families saying: 'I'm concerned. Is this the way that my son or my daughter or whatever is going to end up?'”
http://www.recorder.ca/2012/06/22/call- ... amily-asks