Family of man killed by Calgary police officer calls for threat assessment change – Calgary

Calgary’s Memorial Drive came to a pause on Friday as mourners walked to the site of the May 2023 police shooting that left two people dead.

Exactly three years ago on May 29th, a low-speed police chase ensued in pursuit of stolen vehicle with three occupants. Police reported “rapidly changed dynamics” during the incident which led to an officer shooting the driver, 46-year-old Wesley Davidson, and a passenger, 39-year-old Levon Boyce Fox.

Levon’s brother, Dennis Wildman, was also in the vehicle but survived the shooting.

To honour his memory on the anniversary of his death, family and friends of Levon began their walk to the site of the incident at a parking lot on Memorial Drive. He’s remembered by his loved ones as a caring family man who was fighting his addictions for a better future.

“He just became a grandpa, and he was just being that grandpa and being out there,” Lena Wildman, Levon’s mother says. “That’s the caring side of him.”

His brother who survived the incident, Dennis, is now suffering “mental and emotional anguish” as a result of the shooting.

During the ASIRT investigation that followed the incident, Const. Craig Stothard was charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

A preliminary hearing has been set for August; Lena says she plans to attend court every day. In preparation, the family have been watching back footage of the incident.

“We’ve been watching the videos, and you hear six to eight shots, and I’m thinking, really?” Lena Wildman, Fox’s mother, says “Like, really? That many?”

There are also unanswered questions the family hopes will be addressed in court.

“In my mind and my family have been talking about it, we were thinking: would it have been different if everybody was Caucasian?” Lena says “Because you could clearly see the passengers were Indigenous.”

In the meantime, the grieving family hopes the Calgary Police Service will revise its threat assessment and how it approaches suspects.

“There’s so much cultural awareness that needs to be ongoing with Calgary city police as well,” she adds. “My biggest thing is the threat assessment. It needs to be revisited; there was so much overkill on that day.”

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