A Guelph police officer who shot and wounded a man attacked by a man with a hatchet earlier this year has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.
The SIU determined the unnamed officer used reasonable force to deal with a "clear and present danger of lethal dimensions."
Early in the afternoon on Feb. 26 the officer shot the 44-year-old man twice – in the wrist and buttocks – after the man came at the officer with the hatchet following a traffic stop at the intersection of Paisley Road and Silvercreek Parkway.
In total the officer fired seven shots, hitting the man twice. Several other shots hit the vehicle.
The incident began when police were called about a Nissan SUV that was stopped in the left turn lane of Paisley Road at the intersection with Silvercreek Parkway.
Police and a tow truck attended the scene. Body camera evidence showed the suspect officer and another officer approaching the vehicle and asking the driver if they had broken down.
The driver told the officer to go away several times, including yelling and swearing.
The officer said he smelled alcohol on the driver's breath when he partially opened the door.
The driver pulled the door closed and other units were called for backup.
When the two initial officers noticed the man had a hatchet in his hand in the vehicle, they drew their weapons. When the man began to exit the vehicle, they told the driver to drop the hatchet. He sat back in the car, but then exited a short time later and advanced toward the suspect officer.
"The SO discharged his firearm seven times, striking the Complainant and causing him to fall to the ground on his back. The Complainant rolled to his right side by the driver side front tire. WO #1 broadcast over the radio, 'Shots fired,'" reads the full SIU report.
There were nine civilian witnesses interviewed as part of the investigation and three videos, from a porch camera and from phones, was reviewed.
Screenshot of body worn camera shows hatchet next to the driver after he was shot.
"On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the SO committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident," reads the decision by SIU dirctor Joseph Martino.
"The Complainant took objection to the SO’s presence and brandished a hatchet in his direction, effectively committing an assault on the officer. The moment he did that, the SO was entitled to defend himself with reasonable force."
Martino ruled that firing seven shots constituted reasonable force given that the hatchet gave "every appearance of being capable of inflicting grievous bodily harm or death. And the Complainant was clearly wielding it in a threatening fashion towards the officers."
