Ontario's police watchdog clears officer who opened fire at man after another officer shot
Special Investigations Unit says firing gun was 'reasonable force in self-defence'
Ontario's police watchdog has cleared a Toronto police officer of wrongdoing after he fired his gun during a robbery investigation in midtown last year.
The officer opened fire at a 21-year-old man after another officer was shot and wounded in an underground parking garage near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue East on Oct. 2, 2024, the Special Investigation Unit said in a report.
SIU Director Joseph Martino said in the report that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer committed a criminal offence when he fired his gun because the shot fired constituted "reasonable force in self-defence" in his view.
"Withdrawal or retreat were not realistically available to the officer given the speed with which events were unfolding," Martino said.
The report said the officer's bullet missed the man and he was not injured.
The man was later charged with attempted murder.
According to the report, the incident began when officers were investigating a Honda Civic they believed had been involved in a number of robberies. When two men believed to be responsible for the robberies approached the vehicle, the officers tried to arrest them, the report says.
One man was handcuffed while the other ran away and was hit by a vehicle. An officer grabbed him while he was on the ground and they began to wrestle. In the process, the man got hold of his own gun and the "gun discharged," the report says.
The report says the officer, who was shot in the lower left abdomen, then rolled off the man. The man ran toward the Honda Civic and dropped his gun as he got close. Around the same time, another police officer fired a shot in his direction.
The man got inside the vehicle and fled the parkade, the report says. He later turned himself in to the police.
Shortly after the incident, the SIU said the man was arrested at Michael Garron Hospital. He was charged with a number of offences, including attempted murder.
As for the officer, police said at the time that he was rushed to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. He was later released and said to be recovering at home.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates the conduct of police officers in incidents that may have resulted in death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm or allegations of sexual assault.