‘I can’t breathe’: Headingley corrections officer trial begins with video of lead-up to inmate death By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 1:48 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 1, 2023 Last Modified: 6:35 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 1, 2023 Updates

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This article was published 01/09/2023 (737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Inflamed by what he said was a racist comment by jail staff, William Ahmo went on a destructive rampage that ended with the inmate being critically injured during a violent takedown by corrections officers, a Manitoba court has heard.

Ahmo, 45, died Feb. 14, 2021, seven days after he was injured in a violent clash with officers at Headingley Correctional Institute.

Robert Jeffrey Morden, 44, has pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life.

On Friday — the first day of his trial — Morden sat in the front row of the Winnipeg court gallery, dressed in a dark suit and tie, joined by his wife and a dozen supporters. On the other side of the gallery sat several members of Ahmo’s family, joined by their lawyer and two victim support workers.

Video played for court showed Ahmo pacing the common area of his unit at 12:30 p.m., before ripping a water tank fixture from the wall and throwing it and other items at a reinforced window separating a secured staff area from the inmate unit.

Corrections staff and several inmates quickly dispersed.

“He came toward us with weapons,” senior unit officer Michel Jolicoeur testified. “We decided to evacuate and assess the situation.”

As water from the burst water tank poured into the unit, Ahmo continued to ram heavy items at the window, causing it to crack. Ahmo tore a television from its ceiling mount and broke a mop into two pieces, swinging the jagged sticks as he walked.

At one point, corrections officers discharged a gas into the unit as a distraction, allowing another officer on the second floor of the unit to escape to safety.

Jolicoeur quickly assumed the role of crisis negotiator, taking the lead in communicating with Ahmo, who claimed a corrections officer had made racist comments to him.

“William, that’s pretty strong stuff you told me,” Jolicoeur can be heard telling Ahmo from behind the secure staff area. “I understand why you were hurt by it.”

Ahmo tells Jolicoeur he wanted “to die and go to heaven.”

“With that comment, we had to get ready, in case he was going to self-harm,” the corrections officer testified.

He continued to negotiate with Ahmo, without success, until shortly after 3 p.m., when members of the corrections emergency response unit, led by Morden, fired three pepper balls (non-lethal projectiles containing chemical irritant) at Ahmo, and Jolicoeur was told to step aside.

“What was that?” Jolicoeur can be heard saying on the video.

Jolicoeur said Friday he asked Morden why the pepper balls were fired, and was told “it appeared” as if Ahmo was providing other inmates with weapons through their cell doors, including glass shards from a broken television.

A half-hour later, Morden and six or seven other response officers stormed the unit and fired several chemical projectiles at Ahmo as he stood on a second-floor walkway. Ahmo, using a garbage can for a shield and holding a broken mop handle, advanced on the officers, who forcefully took him to the floor.

Ahmo screamed and flailed as a half-dozen officers piled on top of him, forcing the inmate’s face and neck to the floor.

Family members gasped in shock or wept as the video was played in court.

Ahmo can be seen on the video wearing a surgical face mask and with a hood-like material covering his head.

Restrained and seemingly helpless, he repeatedly tells officers: “I can’t breathe.”

Morden tells the other officers, “He can’t be trusted at this point.” Moments later he tells Ahmo: “If you’re talking to us, you can breathe.”

Ahmo, unmoving and appearing unresponsive, was placed in a restraint chair, with one officer violently jerking his head backward, the video shows.

Ahmo was found with no pulse and a “code red” was issued. The video ends with medical staff attending to Ahmo.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later ruled the death a homicide.

Morden was charged in January 2022.

An investigation by RCMP included interviews with corrections officers, inmates and a review of video footage. The investigative file was sent to Manitoba Prosecution Service for review, and then to the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General for an outside opinion.

Crown attorneys from Toronto are prosecuting the case.

“Our family has struggled with this tragedy,” Ahmo’s family said in a written statement released to media in advance of the trial. “It has been a horrible nightmare that we go through each day… We still don’t have all the answers with what happened to Will.”

The trial resumes Tuesday, and is set for 10 days.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

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Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.