Traffic camera broke hours before teen fatally shot by officer

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This article was published 04/02/2021 (2050 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For 345 consecutive days, the traffic camera at Lagimodiere Boulevard and Fermor Avenue operated without interruption.

But five hours before a Winnipeg police officer fatally shot a 16-year-old Indigenous teenager at the intersection last spring, the camera had a “critical error” and broke down.

It’s the latest twist in the controversial case of the April 8, 2020, death of Eishia Hudson, who had allegedly robbed the Sage Creek Liquor Mart with other minors and sped away from police in a stolen vehicle in rush-hour traffic.

Last Thursday, Manitoba’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigation Unit, cleared the Winnipeg Police Service officer who fired the shot that killed Eishia. A single bullet pierced her shoulder and lodged in her spine.

IIU civilian director Zane Tessler wrote in his final report that because the traffic camera was not working at the time of the shooting, the “most reliable piece of evidence” in the case was cellphone footage taken by a witness from some distance away.

While it was public knowledge the traffic camera at the intersection had not functioned that day, the City of Winnipeg only confirmed Wednesday — in a written statement sent to the Free Press — that the camera broke down hours before the shooting.

“The traffic camera in question was installed on April 29, 2019, and did not experience any disruptions prior to going offline for approximately 30 hours on April 8, 2020, due to rodent damage to a power/communications cable,” the city spokesman said.

“The lost connection generated an automatic alert that triggered a manual inspection to determine the damage, cause, and required repairs. We replaced the cable and the camera was back online within a few days. We have not experienced issues at this location since.”

A source with knowledge of the situation clarified to the Free Press the camera went down “around noon” on the day of the shooting, which took place at 5:37 p.m.

On average, the city said it experiences “temporary offline interruptions” at its more than 100 traffic cameras stationed throughout Winnipeg about “twice per month.”

In a polarizing decision, the IIU cleared the unnamed officer who shot Eishia following a 10-month probe.

The IIU did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday when asked for details about the traffic camera and what it had learned during its investigation about how and when it broke down.

Danielle Morrison, a lawyer on the legal team that represents the teen’s family, said she was made aware of the timing of the camera breakdown by the Free Press. She said the family and legal team were provided with no other information than “it was not functioning at the time of the shooting.”

“The camera would have offered a direct line of vision into the shooting, and any footage captured via this angle could have produced key evidence that gave further insight into what exactly happened,” Morrison said in a written statement.

“It is a grave misfortune that this camera just happened to stop functioning only during the hours leading up to, during, and after the fatal shooting of Eishia. As a result, the family of Eishia is faced with yet another hurdle in the truth-finding aspect of what happened to their daughter.”

Morrison said the video footage would have provided important insight into the shooting and the initial investigation and response by police officers and the IIU. The lack of this “crucial evidence,” Morrison said, puts the family at “a further disadvantage in finding justice for Eishia.”

Traffic cameras in Winnipeg are operated and monitored by the Transportation Management Centre. There are 169 such cameras and, as of Monday afternoon, they all functioned as required.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe