SIU Releases Northumberland OPP Officers In Fatal Shooting Of Man Near Castleton In April – Peterborough | The Canadian News

The Ontario police watchdog cleared two Northumberland OPP officers of any wrongdoing following the shooting death of a man in early April 2021.

The director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, issued a extensive report Tuesday about the police shooting, which occurred on April 6.

At around 10:15 a.m., OPP officers first responded to a 911 call about a man sitting in a vehicle, allegedly threatening motorists and assaulting a driver in the area of ​​County Road 25 and Tobacco. Road near the town of Castelton, about 40 km northeast of Cobourg.

Martino said that when officers arrived, the man brandished a baseball bat and advanced on officers, hitting the windshield of a patrol car. He then got into a van and drove the vehicle toward the cruise ships and continued off the scene.

Officers chased after the vehicle, which on a couple of occasions turned and headed toward the cruise ships, forcing officers to take evasive measures to avoid a collision, Martino said.

Finally, an officer on a cruise ship was able to force the truck into a ditch. Martino said the man got out of the vehicle and ignored repeated orders from officers to drop the baseball bat.

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Martino said the man advanced on an officer who then unloaded a fireram four times. Around the same time, another nearby officer also fired a firearm once at the man. The incident ended around 11:35 a.m., Martino’s report noted.

Paramedics rushed to the scene to administer first aid, however, the 43-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. The name of the victim was not released.

Martino said the investigation also revealed that the man “struggled with mental illness” and that on the morning of April he was “mentally ill” and had “lost touch with reality and embarked on a course of erratic behavior” that included taking the family van and facing two motorists, slapping one in the face.

The director concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that either officer committed a crime in connection with the man’s death. Martino said the use of force was necessary to protect against a “reasonably apprehended attack.”

“Regarding the officers’ recourse to shooting, I am satisfied that both subject officer 1 and subject officer 2 unloaded their firearms believing it was necessary to thwart an imminent attack at the hands of the complainant,” he said.

“Although none of the officers interviewed with the SIU, depriving the investigation of first-hand information about their mentality when they fired their guns, each of the officers makes this clear in their notes. Furthermore, the circumstances that prevailed at the time lend credence to their documented assertions. “

Martino also noted that officers knew the man suffered from mental illness.

“Although officers appear to have been aware of this fact, it does not appear that there was ever a real opportunity to implement mental health interventions, if they were available, given the rapidity with which events escalated and the violence that characterized the behavior. of the whistleblower who had precipitated the involvement of the police in the first place, ”he said.