3 Mounties plead not guilty to attempted obstruction of justice in Indigenous man's death

Three RCMP officers have pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to obstructjustice in the death of anIndigenous man who died in police custody in Prince George in 2017.

Dale Culver, aWet'suwet'en and Gitxsan man, was arrested by RCMP in Prince George on July 18, 2017.

B.C.'s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., saidRCMPtold IIO investigators that officers encountered Culver after responding to a report of a man "casing parked vehicles."

RCMP said Culver tried to flee on a bicycle. He was pepper sprayed and placed in the back of a police cruiser before his death.

Culver had trouble breathing and later died in hospital, according to information provided by the RCMP.

Culverwas the father of three children, the youngest an infant when he died.

Earlier this year, almost six years after his death, the B.C. Prosecution Service laid charges against Cons. Arthur Dalman, Sgt Bayani [Jon] Eusebio Cruz and Const. Clarence [Alex] Alexander MacDonald.

They werecharged with attempting to obstruct justice "in connection with events immediately following [Culver's] arrest."

The officers entered not-guilty pleasWednesday morning during an arraignment hearing in the Prince George courthouse,according to Ann Seymour, Crown counsel for policy and justice issues with the B.C. Prosecution Service, in an email to CBC News.

They have elected to be tried by a provincial court judge, said Seymour.

No trial date has been set.

Two other Prince George RCMP officers were alsocharged inCulver'sdeath.

ConstablesPaul Ste-Marie and Jean Francois Monette are charged with manslaughter.

They entered not-guilty pleas in June 2023.