News Release
SIU Concludes Cambridge Death Investigation
Case Number: 12-OCD-250
Other News Releases Related to Case 12-OCD-250
Mississauga (10 October, 2012) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge an officer with the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) with any criminal offence in relation to the death of a 29-year-old man in August of 2012.
The SIU assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident. The subject officer participated in an SIU interview and provided the SIU with a copy of his duty notes. In addition, two witness officers and four civilian witnesses were interviewed.
The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Thursday, August 30:
• At approximately 11:45 a.m., the WRPS received information that a woman had been seriously injured by her ex-boyfriend. They also learned that the ex-boyfriend was at a residence on Cedar Street, and may have access to a rifle.
• The subject officer went to the residence and took a position in a command post set up nearby. A number of telephone calls were made to the residence and to the man’s cellular phone, with no response. The subject officer organized a breach of the front door, and officers ascended the stairs to the second floor. They discovered a large amount of blood on the stairway. On the second floor, they found a bedroom door that was locked. The officers breached this door and found the man lying dead on the floor from a contact gunshot wound to the head.
• No officer heard the sound of a gunshot before their arrival.
Director Scott said, “Through the investigation, it was determined that the man had lured his ex-girlfriend to her mother’s house and attacked her with a length of pipe. He had caused serious injury to her head, but she had managed to escape at which point she called the police. In my view, the most reasonable inference to draw from this investigation is that the man attempted to either kill or cause his ex-girlfriend serious injury and then take his own life. There is no suggestion that any officer was responsible for his demise.”
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must
- consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
- depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
- publicly report the results of its investigations