The family of a mentally ill B.C. man killed by Saanich police has been awarded more than $350,000 in compensation for the negligence of the officer who shot him.

Majencio Camaso, 33, was killed by Const. Kristopher Dukeshire on July 11, 2004, after his wife called 911 to report that he was off his antipsychotic medication and threatening to set fire to the family apartment.

When police arrived on the scene, Camaso led Dukeshire on a foot chase around the neighbourhood to the playground of a local elementary school, and then threatened the officer with a crowbar and a pipe. Without calling for backup or firing a warning shot, the much larger police officer shot him three times, ending his life.

In a decision issued Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Grant Burnyeat found that Dukeshire was "grossly negligent" when he shot Camaso, and the Saanich Police Department was vicariously responsible for his actions.

"Even with one or two potential weapons in Mr. Camaso's hands, Const. Dukeshire, who weighed almost 100 pounds more and stood almost a foot taller than Mr. Camaso, could not have had a reasonable belief that it was necessary to shoot Mr. Camaso for his own preservation," Burnyeat wrote.

The judge awarded $238,912 to Camaso's widow Maria Teresa Camaso and $115,000 to his young daughter Christine Kate Camaso for damages, including loss of financial support. Christine was just three years old when her father was killed.

Saanich police spokesman Sgt. Dean Jantzen told ctvbc.ca that the department is reviewing the lengthy decision before making any comment on it.

"We're going need some time to digest it and go through it with our lawyers," he said.

Camaso, a Filipino immigrant, had stopped taking his antipsychotic pills two weeks before he was killed. When police responded to his wife's 911 call, they discovered that the floor of the Camasos' apartment was scorched and the screen on the TV was smashed in.

Teresa Camaso fled the home with her young daughter, and her husband was nowhere to be found.

But Dukeshire and the other two constables who responded to the call were asked to return to the scene when Camaso was spotted trying to get back into the building.

Ambulance attendant Derek Morris followed Camaso behind the building and witnessed the interaction between the disturbed man and the police officer.

Morris testified that he saw Camaso duck behind a vehicle and then come out holding the pipe and crowbar, yelling "You kill me now." Morris said he saw Camaso run towards the officer, ignoring his orders to stop.

But the judge ruled Dukeshire could have just run away from Camaso or used his police baton. His life was not in danger, nor was anybody else's.

"As soon as Const. Dukeshire removed his service revolver from its holster and aimed it at Mr. Camaso, he was involved in an activity where it is plain that the magnitude of the risks involved were such that more than ordinary care had to be taken," Burnyeat wrote. "More than ordinary care was not taken. The loss of the life of Mr. Camaso resulted."

The Camaso family also filed negligence claims against Morris, the two other attending constables and the B.C. government, but those were dismissed in court.