News Release
No Charges Against Dryden Police Officers After Shooting at Man
Case Number: 21-OFP-330
Other News Releases Related to Case 21-OFP-330
SIU Investigating After Police Discharge Firearms at Man in Dryden
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that two Dryden Police Service officers committed a criminal offence in connection with discharging their firearms at a 40-year-old man who drove his pickup truck at officers last September.
In the evening of September 30, 2021, officers were dispatched to a residence on Highway 17 in Dryden for a disturbance. When the officers arrived, they saw a pickup truck facing them on the driveway. The man accelerated the pickup truck toward the officers’ marked SUV, striking it and sending it rotating. One of the officers discharged a round from his firearm at the pickup truck. The man circled his truck around and toward the officers again, at which time both officers discharged their firearms at the man. An officer subsequently arrested the man.
Paramedics took the man to hospital where he was diagnosed with fractured ribs. The man did not have any gunshot wounds.
One officer attended hospital where he was treated for injuries.
Director Martino concluded that both officers fired their weapons to protect themselves from imminent danger. With respect to the force used by the officers - 16 shots fired by one officer and 17 by the other – Director Martino said he was persuaded that it was legally justified in the highly-charged circumstances of the moment. Accordingly, there was no basis for proceeding with criminal charges against the officers, and the file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://siu.on.ca/en/directors_report_details.php?drid=1790
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
Lisez ce communiqué en français.
Kristy Denette, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES