Officer who shot Babak Saidi tells inquest he was afraid for his life

The constable who shot and killed Babak Saidi outside the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) detachment in Morrisburg, Ont., told a coroner's inquest Wednesday he feared for his life when Saidi took his Taser during the attemptedarrest in 2017.

Luc Sarao, who is now a detective constable with the street crime unit, said he'd only heard of Saidi the morning of Dec. 23, 2017, when colleagues working a holiday schedule mentioned that Saidicould be unpredictable.

They learned by email that two officers would attempt to arrest Saididuring his weekly, mandatory check-in at the detachment because of allegations he'd threatened a women with a knife.

During the struggle that ensued in that arrest, Sarao shot Saidi five times at close range.

Ontario's police watchdoginvestigated and found there wereno reasonable grounds to lay criminal chargesagainst Sarao.

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The inquest is looking for recommendations to improve police responses to people who may be violent or be suffering from mental illness.

Arrest planned day of, constables say

Sarao said he andConst. Meghan Shay, the other officer who was involved in the arrest,had formulated their plan in the moments after they both arrived at the detachment.They'd read relevant files on Saidi in the police computer system earlier that morning.

Both officers said they had not been specifically assigned to the task.

Sarao said their plan was for it to seem like a "natural" sign-in for Saidi, in an attempt to avoid the situation escalating, and they would inform him of his arrest rather than trying to physically control him first.

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While there was some discrepancy inboth constables' testimony about who spoke first, Sarao said he did inform Saidi he was under arrest and instructed him to turn around.

In both constables' testimony, Saidi became defensive, but each said he calmed down when they told him neither wasthe lead investigator on the file andthere was a process that needed to happen.

But before he was handcuffed,Saidi said something about telling his father and made his way from the office tothe lobby.

Thenthe arrest began to escalate, the constables told the inquest.

Officer concerns over leaving building

While they would later learn Saidi's father was waiting outside with a neighbour in acar after dropping Saidi off, the inquest heard neither officer was certain who was inthe vehicleand were concerned by the potential new threat.

Sarao said he tried to control Saidi by grabbing his left arm insidethe lobby, but the two ended up crashing through the door and the struggle on the ground outside rapidly escalated.

He said Saidi bit his armthrough two layers of clothing, so Sarao delivered three punches to the back of Saidi's head to get him loose. While Sarao was able to get on top, he said the pair of officerswere concerned Saidi was grabbing for their guns.

"At that point, I have zero control on this man, he feels extremely strong and it's not going well," Sarao said.

He said Saidi grabbedthe radio off his vest and struck him above his left eye and since Saidi had become assaultive, heresorted to his conducted-energy weapon, a Taser X2.

Because they were too close, Sarao said he hadto try to incapacitate him by first firing the prongs at himandshocking him at a third point with the Taser itself. Butwhen he fired it, he also felt the electrical charge.

Shay also testified to feeling a shockand breaking the wire because one of the prongs had caught on her sleeve.

Sarao said Saidiwrestled the Taser away by rolling onto his belly, raising the concern that he could use the second cartridge in the Taser against the officers.

Sarao said Saidi's assaultive behaviour had become a threat on his life at that point. He said as he drew his weapon Saidi rose off his back and swung the Taser back at him and touched his gun that's when Sarao fired his first shots.

"I was fearful for my life," he told the inquest.

Even after being shot in the right arm and left thigh, Saidi was able to grab onto an unzipped open pocket on the front of Sarao's vest where he kept a pocketknife, so the officer fired three more times, he said.

Difficult to train for feeling you could die, officer says

Sarao, who served 10 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, including tours in Afghanistan,and had three years experience as an OPP officer at that point, said that was the first time he'd fired his gun on someone.

Sarao, like Shay, opened his testimony with an apology to the Saidi family, though he also acknowledgedthere was little he could say that would make a difference.

In his testimony, Sarao agreed more officers may have been able to get better control of Saididuring the arrest, but at the time he'd felt he and Shay couldhandleit.

More information to make decisions could also be useful to officers, he said. Flags for violentand unpredictable behaviour are common in the police databaseand he saidsomething "above and beyond" might need to be considered.

Earlier Wednesday, Shay said she had concerns about an arrest plan withonly two officers after being involved in a failed plan to arrest Saidi at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that had involved four.

Shesaid she felt reassured when she sawreports where Saidicooperated with a single officer to come into custody, but added it may have been "naive" in retrospect.

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Shay said she had difficulty remembering large portions of the incidentand described getting "tunnel vision."

She said while police training attempts to prepare officers for high stress, it's difficult for trainers to prepare someone forfeeling like theycould die, their partner could dieand the public could beat risk.