The widow of an Edmonton Police Service (EPS) officer killed in the line of duty in June 2015 spoke publicly Tuesday, after findings of the investigation surrounding the incident that led to her husband’s death were released.
“It’s been a very long road to get to this, three years is a really long time,” Claire Woodall said in a video she shared with CTV News.
On Tuesday, ASIRT released the results of their investigation into what happened on June 8, 2015.
That evening, Const. Dan Woodall was among a number of officers who went to a west Edmonton home to arrest Norman Raddatz. Woodall was one of two officers shot when Raddatz opened fire.
His colleague Sgt. Jason Harley was injured, but survived. Woodall was killed.
ASIRT’s investigation found officers acted lawfully and reasonably as they attempted to arrest Raddatz.
The fallen officer is survived by his wife Claire, and their two sons.
“I thought I’d be alright with it, but it was really quite difficult,” Woodall said. “It was as if he had died again.”
Woodall said she was given the information ASIRT released Tuesday ahead of time. She said EPS and ASIRT had been helpful throughout the whole process.
“This investigation has shown a few things that may need changing,” Woodall said.
She said her sons are “getting more like their dad every day.”
The couple had moved to Canada from Manchester, England. In 2017, Claire and her sons moved back – but the family plans to visit Edmonton, their “second home” in the summer.
“The boys are doing really well; they have a lot of family around here, we still continue to feel the love from Edmonton,” Woodall said.
“We’re doing good…we can close the book now.”
With files from Dan Grummett
