A jury has recommended more ERT-trained officers, and staging of advanced care paramedics during incidents with armed suspects, as part of a week-long inquest into the death of a man in Nanaimo in 2018. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

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NANAIMO — A seven-member jury have made a pair of recommendations to both BC RCMP and BC Emergency Health Services (EHS) following a week-long inquest.

The jury were tasked with determining relevant facts about the death of 39-year-old Jerry Robert Smallwood, known as Jer Wood, on May 8, 2018 as he exited Departure Bay Ferry Terminal in Nanaimo.

As part of the inquest, the jury determined Wood died by suicide at 10:28 a.m. and suffered multiple gunshot wounds during the brief standoff with police in the terminal’s vehicle exit lanes.

A spokesperson for the jury presented two recommendations at the Nanaimo court house on Tuesday, Nov. 19, with one directed to the commanding officer of the RCMP’s E-division.

The jury believed more specially trained officers may have yielded a different result, and RCMP should “expedite setting up regional-based full-time ERT (emergency response teams)…including on Vancouver Island, and continue to supplement the teams with ERT-trained part-time members.”

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In identifying evidence to support their recommendation, the jury spokesperson said more resources could have helped.

“The emergency response team operations were supplemented by plain clothed officers that were untrained in ERT tactics because there were not enough ERT members available.”

A second recommendation was directed to the chief ambulance officer of BC EHS.

The jury said during incidents involving an armed individual, advanced care paramedics should be at the scene and staged nearby, providing a higher-level of care than a typically-deployed primary care paramedic.

“Transport to hospital was delayed as only a primary care paramedic was staged before the incident on Stewart Ave., and advanced care paramedics were requested prior to transport.”

An October 2018 probe by the Independent Investigations Office of BC cleared Mounties of any criminal wrongdoing, also suggesting Wood was attempting to fatally injury himself when officers opened fire.

The IIO later found Wood had claimed to have “wasted somebody” prior to the incident and was focused on avoiding jail, even if it meant being killed by police.

He was linked to several violent incidents in the Okanagan, including a shooting in Vernon leaving a man with life threatening injuries a week-and-a-half before the Nanaimo incident.

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