Monday, March 18, 2024

Fundraiser launched for family of man shot in the head by police in Duncan

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A GoFundMe campaign has been started on behalf of a critically injured man’s father, who has had to drop everything while his son lies on his deathbed after being shot twice by police. 

On Tuesday, March 28th, North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP officers shot a man twice in the head while he was trying to escape them in a skid-steer construction vehicle. 

Police say that around 9:15 p.m., they received a call that an impaired man was driving a skid-steer on a residential street. 

Police reportedly chased the vehicle along a few different streets before firing six gunshots at the driver — two of which struck the man in his head. 

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The man they shot was 31-year-old Davin Cochrane, whose family and friends were left dumbfounded by the RCMP’s knee-jerk reaction to use such an aggressive tactic in stopping him. 

Kiya Ball and Tiffany Kovacs are two close family friends who started a GoFundMe to aid Cochrane’s 10-week-old child, fiance and father who had to drop everything in his life and come to Duncan from Grand Prairie. 

Ball and Kovacs also shed some light on the circumstances that led to Cochrane being behind the wheel of a skid-steer while under the influence. 

What police didn’t know is that Cochrane had been in a vehicular collision the day prior. He had suffered wounds that led the hospital’s intensive care unit to give him ketamine as a pain reliever, according to Kovacs and Ball.  

Cochrane had prior struggles with mental health issues and substance abuse, but had reportedly been living a sober lifestyle for three years. 

After he had been given the drugs Cochrane was awaiting surgery in the intensive care unit and somehow managed to flee the hospital unnoticed. Ball and Kovacs say the hospital failed to notify anyone that he had left their care. 

“Davin’s family was not contacted to let them know he had left, nor were the police notified that he had left,” said Ball and Kovacs on the GoFundMe page. 

“We are sure this would have all turned out differently if the family had been contacted and the hospital had made sure Davin had not left.”

Cochrane’s whereabouts up until he gained control of the skid-steer are still unknown as of this publication, but after he did, police say he had multiple collisions with their RCMP cruisers.

Ball and Kovacs refute this claim by police and say that Cochrane couldn’t have been an imminent danger to anyone in the area the altercation took place.

“We and many others are absolutely devastated and confused as to why these police officers needed to take the force of firing their weapon six times,” said Ball and Kovacs. 

“He was not even around any people and made his way to a soccer field and gravel parking lot where again nobody was.”

Six shots were fired and two struck Cochrane in his head in an effort to deescalate the situation. Now, Cochrane has been transferred to Victoria General Hospital for surgeries and a hopeful recovery.

“Davin underwent a series of surgeries to have part of his brain removed to release the pressure in his brain and stop the uncontrollable bleeding that had been continuing from the time he was shot twice till he got to the hospital,” Ball and Kovacs said. 

“He is now on life support, holding on for dear life and we are praying that somehow he pulls through.”

Given the nature of this case and the life-threatening injuries suffered by Cochrane at the hands of police, a thorough investigation by the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) will be taking place. 

Any funds donated to the GoFundMe will go towards Cochrane’s father’s travel expenses, his fiance and 10-week-old child’s cost-of-living expenses, and if need be, funeral costs, according to Ball and Kovacs. 

As of this publication, the campaign has raised just over $1,700 of their goal of $15,000. 

mm
Curtis Blandy
curtis@victoriabuzz.com

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