The Langley RCMP officer who shot and killed Alvin Wright in his Langley City bedroom in August of 2010, took the stand at a coroner's inquest on Wednesday to give his version of the events of that night.
During his testimony Sgt. Don Davidson told the inquest that he went upstairs to where Alvin Wright was thought to be sleeping, so he could "talk to buddy" about letting his girlfriend get her stuff out, when this "simple" file turned lethal.
"I flick on the lights and I don't see him. Part of my training is to clear a room.
"I look at the closet and I see someone's head," Davidson told the inquiry.
"I see something metallic and I think, 'Holy shit.' I hit the closet doors to knock him back to give me some time.
"He's got a knife in one hand and a hatchet in the other," said Davidson.
"My mind is thinking "simple" file, and you've gone from police presence to lethal force that quick.
"If you don't have your firearm out at that point, you're stupid," he said.
Davidson testified that he told Wright: "Drop the knife. We don't want to shoot you."
Wright replied: "Shoot me," said Davidson.
The senior officer said that he has been in these situations before and he was trying to talk to Wright, to de-escalate the situation.
"He has to surrender or I am f***ed," Davidson said.
"He's staring at me. I'm thinking, 'Holy shit.' I didn't see the hatchet anymore. He's coming out of the closet with the knife."
Davidson testified that he was backed up against the bed and a chair, saying, "I can't go anywhere but towards him."
Davidson said he was within arm's reach of Wright, and the officers in the room were all yelling, "Drop the knife," when Wright advanced.
"I fired one round to the midsection. He looked me in the face and said, 'I wasn't going to stab you, dude,' and he fell over," Davidson said.
Over the next hour or so, firefighters and paramedics attempted to revive Wright, but he had already gone into cardiac arrest and had massive internal bleeding.
During cross examination it was learned that Davidson only had to give a verbal account of what happened to Insp. Amrik Virk.
Although he met briefly with Supt. Derek Cooke, the officer in charge of the Langley detachment, no account of that evening and the shooting of Wright was written down or recorded until three months later by the VPD. By that time, Cooke had already reinstated Davidson.
Davidson broke down on the stand during testimony about his conversation with the OIC after he returned to the detachment following the shooting.
Cooke told Davidson, "I just want you to know, you are going to feel a lot of different things, and if you want to go home, go."
Davidson was then driven home by another member.
Click player below to hear 911 calls