Officer tells inquiry he didn’t intentionally alter text dates after shooting
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The Newfoundland police officer who shot and killed Don Dunphy says he didn’t intentionally alter the dates of messages on his BlackBerry cellphone, nor did he mean anything derogatory when he called him a “lunatic.”
Const. Joe Smyth of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was recalled Monday to an inquiry into the April 2015 death for questions about texts retrieved since he testified under oath in January.
Smyth told inquiry commission co-counsel Sandra Chaytor that if dates were altered on messages exchanged on his BlackBerry, he doesn’t know how.
“If I was going to do something intentional I would have dropped it in the St. John’s harbour,” he said.