The Hamilton Spectator
TORONTO, Canada — A man who killed a Toronto police officer with a snowplow showed no emotion Wednesday when he was found not criminally responsible.
Jurors reached the verdict in the trial of Richard Kachkar, 46, in the third day of deliberations.
The verdict means the jury believed Kachkar couldn’t appreciate what he was doing when he hit and killed Sergeant Ryan Russell, 35, on Jan. 12, 2011, because he was mentally ill.
People who are found not criminally responsible are sent to mental health facilities for an indeterminate period of time and can be released only when a review board finds they aren’t a significant threat to public safety.
But the judge in the case still allowed Russell’s family to deliver victim impact statements.
Tracey Russell, the officer’s sister, said she needed her brother to talk to.
“It has been two years and the pain is still very much a part of our life now ... Ryan has a little boy, Nolan, he is a lovely baby ... (who) will never know his daddy.”
Outside court, Russell’s widow Christine said the verdict left her “heartbroken.”
“I believe Ryan deserved better than this,” she said, adding she would be working to support passage of federal legislation that would make it harder for those found not criminally responsible to seek release from custody.
In Ottawa, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson also reacted to the verdict by lobbying for the new legislation.
“We have a bill before parliament that puts the protection of the public as paramount consideration ... so I hope that gets passed very quickly.”
The judge had told the jury there was “no doubt” Kachkar was driving the stolen snowplow, but what the jury had to consider was his mental state.
The trial heard from dozens of witnesses over six weeks, including three psychiatrists who testified that they believed Kachkar was psychotic at the time he killed Russell while on a rampage in the city.
Russell was killed when he tried to stop Kachkar. The dashboard camera from his cruiser shows the plow doing a U-turn and then driving toward the police vehicle.
Russell reversed as the plow drove toward the cruiser. The plow was briefly off camera and witnesses testified that in that moment Kachkar slowed the plow and opened the door as if to get out.
The officer then got out of his cruiser and Kachkar accelerated at him, witnesses testified. The plow clipped the driver’s side front corner of the cruiser and Russell fired three shots toward the plow as it continued at him, but to no avail, witnesses said.
Copyright 2013 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.