IT WAS JUST A CRACK PIPE: VICTIM'S GIRLFRIEND

Says Police Thought He Discarded Weapon Before Fatal Scuffle

Shawn Price threw away a crack pipe, not a weapon, Sunday morning
when two officers in an unmarked car pulled up, his girlfriend says.

Price, who was fatally shot by one of the officers, had been out with
his girlfriend Monica Willier near 107th Avenue and 102nd Street.

The police were searching for a robbery suspect after being flagged
down by the male victim.

Willier said she and Price were out for a walk, "just trying to
figure out our life," when the incident unfolded. She said Price was
about "20 to 30 feet ahead" of her, talking to some people, when
police "pulled up really quick and everyone scattered.

"Shawn started walking toward me and the next thing you know the cops
told him he was under arrest. They asked him what he threw on the
ground because they thought he had thrown down a weapon, but it
wasn't, and he tried to tell them it wasn't."

Willier said Price had discarded a crack pipe and the situation
escalated when he bent down to show the officers.

"Then the cops grabbed him and used force on him right away, and then
Shawn tried to get away," she said.

"One hand was already cuffed at that time and then he ran. Then they
caught him and threw him up against their car and started beating him.

"Then Shawn got away again, but this time he had no jacket or shirt
on, and then he tripped over something and he fell, and they caught him again."

She said he was on the ground and "under control" when an officer
fired the first of two shots, both of which hit Price, 36.

Another witness said Price was standing when he was shot.

Willier said it felt like 30 seconds passed before the second shot,
but another witness said the shots came in quick succession.

"He was under control. There was no reason for that," Willier said.
"Why did she have to pull out the gun? Why didn't she just use the Taser?"

Police said Price was trying to grab the male officer's weapon when
he was shot. Acting police chief Norm Lipinski said Monday that
neither officer was carrying a Taser.

Willier said she and Price had been together for five years and have
a three-year-old daughter who is with relatives.

Willier said Price was "angry that day" over some family issue and
that the two of them had gone for a walk so he could "let off steam"
and the pair "could figure out our life."

People in the area said Price approached them looking for drugs just
before the incident.

Price's brother, Kevin, earlier said his brother tried to turn
himself in last month on an Canada-wide warrant for parole violation,
but was turned away.

Kevin Price said his brother and Willier had been staying with him at
his Jasper Avenue apartment. On April 23, between 11 p.m. and
midnight, two constables came to his apartment looking for Price in
connection with a Canada-wide warrant, he said. He said he was not
aware of the warrant, but co-operated with the officers, telling them
that Price was staying with him,but was out with Willier.

He said the officers told him that his brother needed to turn himself
in and that when he did, he should mention he had a "yellow folder."
Kevin Price said he understood that to mean his brother had an
outstanding warrant.

Price had spent time in jail for assault.

Price told his brother he knew about the warrant, which was issued
after he violated parole conditions by leaving a halfway house.

Price agreed to turn himself in, and the two brothers made the
10-minute walk to the downtown headquarters, arriving just after midnight.

The station isn't open to the public after 10 p.m., but a sign
directed them to press an after-hours buzzer for assistance, which
Price did, his brother said.

"I stood back a bit because Shawn said it would be better for him if
he wasn't escorted, so I don't know exactly what he said" to the
person on the intercom, he said. Price was told to return the next
day, his brother said

The two men walked back to the apartment and Price called the police
again, making sure to mention to the dispatcher that he had a "yellow folder."

"I thought they would send a car right away to pick him up, but they
didn't," his brother said.

When Price told him the next morning that he planned to go back to
the station and take care of the matter, his brother assumed he had
and the matter had been dealt with. It hadn't.

Lipinski said Monday that police are investigating why Price might
have been turned away.

"We are certainly going to look into that.

"Generally speaking, when someone comes in and there are warrants
outstanding, that person would be dealt with at that time."

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team -- which probes incidents
of serious injury or death involving police officers -- is handling
the investigation to determine whether the actions of the officers
were lawful and justified.

Clifton Purvis, the head of ASIRT, said the constable was in close
proximity when she shot the Price in the hip and the chest.

The female officer has one year on the job; her male partner has 10.

Lipinski voiced support for the young officer who fired the shots.

"She has just under a year of experience," he said. "I have full
confidence in the training we give at the EPS. As far as I'm
concerned, whether it's one year or 10 years, they're competent
people out there."

Lipinski said the officers are granted three days off automatically
after such an incident. Then, they are assessed through the police
human resources program to see if they need further assistance or time off.

A decision hasn't been made on whether the officers will be assigned
back to the streets, but Lipinski said he would support that decision
if the officers wished to do so.