Doug Lucio Wants Answers in Son's Death
With 2 years gone by Doug Lucio, Father of murdered Police officer Dave is looking for answers.
Dave Lucio was killed in a murder-suicide by fellow officer Kelly Johnson. "People have a right to know and my wife and I have a right to know what happened here," said Doug Lucio, 83. "I'm going to continue to live until I get something done -- not for my sake, but for my son. It's just eating away at my heart."
A spokesperson for the Ontario chief coroner's office says the information, including a report prepared by an expert panel that was then reviewed by the Ontario Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, is being reviewed by a supervising regional coroner from outside London.
That official will decide if an inquest is to be held.
Lucio was shot by Johnson as he pulled up to her Picton St. condominium building. Johnson then used her 9-mm service pistol on herself.
A police investigation revealed Lucio had broken off a two-year relationship with Johnson three days before the shooting and a day after Johnson was promoted to acting inspector.
Police Chief Murray Faulkner called in a panel of experts to review the murder-suicide to determine if it could have been predicted or prevented and promised their report would be released to the public.
On May 29, 2008, the three-member panel released an 11-page report, an executive summary, that concluded the murder-suicide was "neither predictable nor preventable" -- a conclusion based on four key findings:
Although Johnson was in counselling and seeing a doctor, she was "non-compliant" and rejected medication.
Johnson was diagnosed as depressed, but not viewed by doctors as a threat to herself or others.
Lucio, a "highly skilled" retired senior officer, suspected nothing, despite the recent breakup.
Johnson continued to get positive evaluations from superiors and peers and was promoted to acting inspector four days before the shooting.
During its review, the panel amassed hundreds of pages of information, including interviews that have not been released due to concerns about patient confidentiality and privacy issues.
A 60-page report was prepared for police, but only the executive summary was released to the public.
It's that information Doug Lucio hopes will be revealed at an inquest to determine if there are systemic problems in the police force and who knew what and when.
Lucio has repeatedly suggested the investigation and panel report were a "cover-up."
"Something screwy is going on," he said, referring to cases in recent years in which police are repeatedly exonerated for their actions, even when later inquiries raise questions.
He pointed to the case of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died at Vancouver's airport in October 2007 after being shot five times with a Taser stun gun and wrestled to the ground by four RCMP officers, who said they felt threatened by Dziekanski when he picked up a stapler.
Prosecutors in B.C. in December said the officers wouldn't face criminal charges, saying their use of force was justified in the circumstances.
But during the inquiry, that evidence was disputed by a witness video of Dziekanski's dying moments.
"There's something definitely wrong with policing in Ontario and Canada," said Lucio. "And unless something is done, nothing is going to get straightened up in this city or Ontario. It's still going on."
The panel said although Kelly Johnson hid or "masked" her deteriorating mental condition, there were symptoms and issues pointing to trouble. These included alcohol abuse, could not sleep, an inability to cope with the dealth of her three years earlier, job stress, including the recent promotion, and the breakup with officer Lucio.