No charges for York police officer in fatal shooting of man in Vaughan: SIU

CBC.ca
July 19, 2023

Ontario's police watchdog has cleared a York Regional Police officer of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a man in Vaughan last year.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offence related to the shooting of the 25-year-old man on Oct. 9 2022.

According to the SIU director's report, police responded to a banquet hall on Vaughan Valley Boulevard for a weapons call. When officers arrived, they attempted to arrest the man armed with a firearm, the report said. The interaction between the man and police began in the lobby.

Police said the man ignored officers' commands and attempted to flee the scene.

The officer then struck the man in the back with the barrel of his rifle, before eventually shooting at the man twice.

The SIU says in its report that the man reached for his waistband and the officer shot at the man twice more. He was taken to hospital by paramedics and died the next day.

"I am satisfied that the [subject official] acted to protect himself from a reasonably apprehended attack when he shot the complainant," SIU Director Joseph Martino wrote. "That was what the officer told the SIU, and his evidence is supported by the prevailing circumstances at the time."

The man's firearm was located at the scene, the report said.

The man died from "gunshot wounds of torso," it added.

The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates police conduct that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and the discharge of a firearm at a person.