News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Discharge of ARWENs by Police at Man in Brantford
Case Number: 23-OFP-110
Other News Releases Related to Case 23-OFP-110
SIU Investigating After Brantford Police Officers Shot Anti-Riot Weapons at Man in Brantford
On April 13, 2023, Brantford Police Service officers were dispatched to a residence for a domestic dispute between a woman and a 34-year-old man. Officers arrived to find the man seated on the front stoop of a residence, while holding a knife up against his neck. The man was distraught and indicated he wanted to die. He cried and told the officers to shoot him. Attempts were made to communicate with the man and de-escalate the situation. The man did eventually drop the knife. However, when he quickly moved to retrieve it, he was struck with the probes of a conducted energy weapon fired by an officer. At the same time, two other officers fired a single round from their ARWENs, neither of which struck the man. Officers took the man into custody. He had suffered no serious injury. On his assessment of the evidence, SIU Director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that any officer committed a criminal offence in connection with their use of the ARWENs. There was no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case, and the file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.
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.
Monica Hudon, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES