Kelowna RCMP officer fights back tears as he describes colleague's condition after knife attack – Kelowna News

An officer held back tears outside Kelowna court Wednesday morning as he described how his bloodied colleague collapsed on top of him after being cut in the face during an incident in downtown Kelowna in March 2022.

On the third day of the attempted murder trial of Richard McCrae, police officer Taylor Backman testified that he was one of the first officers to arrive at the Ellis Place housing development at 1055 Ellis Street on the evening of March 26, 2022, after Officer Jason Tymofichuk issued a tone alarm over the police radio, “Code 10-33.” The code means “emergency, need immediate assistance.”

Const. Tymofichuk suffered a cut to his face when he was called to a previous call at Ellis Place. Prosecutors allege McCrae struck the officer in the face with a five-inch knife during an argument. He is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, disarming an officer, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and willfully resisting an officer.

“The tensions were very high”

In his testimony Wednesday, Const. Backman said he arrived at the scene to find Const. Tymofichuk with a “severe laceration” from his forehead to his eye. He pointed his gun at a man in the alley behind Ellis Place.

While the two officers ordered the man, later identified as McCrae, to drop the knife in his hand and lie on the ground, Const. Backman said it appeared as if McCrae dropped the knife but then turned and walked away from the officers.

Another officer arrived on the scene and fired three Taser shots into McCrae's back, but Const. Backman said they were ineffective because the Taser electrodes did not penetrate McCrae's coat.

“Tensions were very high at that point,” Const. Backman testified.

An officer fired a fourth Taser into McCrae's back, knocking him to the ground. Const. Backman said he then ran to arrest McCrae, but by the time he reached him, McCrae had somewhat recovered.

“We had quite a fight on the ground,” said Const. Backman. “He was just getting up off the ground and at that moment I ran at him as fast as I could and hit him in the face with my right foot as hard as I could.”

Const. Backman said he jumped on McCrae and pinned his neck to the ground when he noticed a large cut on the man's neck, which he had previously inflicted on himself.

“Mr. McCrae really ramped up the fight at that point. I still had my gun drawn at that point, so I put it right to his temple and said, 'Stop fighting or I'll shoot you,'” said Const. Backmand.

But when McCrae continued to resist and turned on his side to look directly into the gun, Const. Backman said he had to make a “really difficult decision.”

“The three of us were basically losing a fight against Mr. McCrae at that point, and I did not want my weapon used against us. I did not want him to get his hands on it, so I had to make the difficult decision to put my weapon away and take a more physical approach, which was to hit him with my right fist. [three times] right in the head,” said Const. Backman.

Another officer was then able to handcuff McCrae and Const. Backman was able to get off him.

Official “in poor shape”

Const. Backman said that once McCrae was handcuffed, he ran back to Const. Tymofichuk, who was “swaying in his stance” and in “poor condition.”

During his testimony regarding Const. Tymofichuk's condition, Const. Backman took several pauses and attempted to maintain his composure.

“His face and the front of his bulletproof vest were covered in blood. He told me he felt dizzy and collapsed,” said Const. Backman. “I held him down so he didn't fall completely over from his body weight.”

Another RCMP member who had completed training as a paramedic eventually took over the care of the injured Const. Tymofichuk.

The officer survived the attack but testified Tuesday that he still suffers from nerve damage on the side of his face and head.

Witness recently died

One of the witnesses scheduled to testify at McCrae's trial recently died. Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Ewan Dewolf testified Wednesday that he was searching for Michael (Mac) McGregor at the Heath House condominium on Sept. 12. However, when he arrived, McGregor was found dead in his room.

Cpl. Dewolf did not elaborate on the cause of McGregor's death.

At a preliminary examination in October 2023, McGregor testified that he was a “front-row witness” to McCrae's alleged attack on Const. Tymofichuk. He said McCrae threw the officer against a fence and wrestled with him, inflicting cuts on the officer's face with a knife during the struggle.

He said that at times the two also fought over Const. Tymofichuk's firearm.

“This guy had grabbed the gun and was pointing it at the cop's face. I thought it looked like he was going to pull the trigger at the last second and blow the cop's head off. That's when I jumped in and broke it up,” McGregor testified. “I didn't want anyone to die because it happened so fast.”

He further testified that when Const. Tymofichuk regained control of his gun and pointed it at McCrae, McGregor stepped between them and said, “Don't shoot him, he's not well, he has mental problems.”

“I swear [McCrae] “He said he had a demon inside him or something, and then he used his own knife to slit his throat, and then I swear I saw him stab himself in the throat,” McGregor said in court last October.

Fear of “demon voice”

McGregor and others who knew him said McCrae was a “very nice” and soft-spoken man most of the time, but struggled with mental health issues.

“It was definitely schizophrenia, but I think it was much more than that,” McGregor testified. “He usually had a soft voice… it was a beautiful, soft voice. But when he changed his speech or whatever, it was the deepest, darkest, most monstrous voice I've ever heard.”

McGregor said McCrae was “very intimidating” and “a scary person” when he spoke in his “demon voice”, but he was normally “a very, very nice guy”.

The trial of McCrae, who remains in custody, is scheduled to resume next week.