No wrongdoing in officer shooting at a Jeep in Caledon: SIU
Published February 21, 2024 at 8:16 am
The province’s police watchdog has found no criminal offence in an OPP officer firing a gun at a Jeep in Caledon in the fall.
The police-involved shooting happened early in the morning of Oct. 23, according to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), after police responded to a call about a suspicious Jeep Wrangler on Tundra Road in Caledon.
When the two officers found the Jeep, they learned it had been reported stolen, according to an SIU report released on Feb. 20.
The men inside the Jeep spotted the officers as they approached.
The driver of the Jeep then backed the vehicle up and jumped the curb behind it before the driver stopped and began to accelerate forward in a southeast direction towards one of the responding OPP officers, according to the report.
The officer drew his firearm and temporarily pointed it at the Jeep before he lowered his weapon, turned and ran on the grass boulevard adjacent to the sidewalk.
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The Jeep closed the gap with the officer quickly, climbed the curb and struck the officer. The officer was propelled forward into an SUV parked on the driveway on Tundra Road.
After striking the officer the Jeep turned to the right and accelerated back onto the roadway in the direction of the other officer.
“The officer, his firearm drawn, fired three times at the Jeep in quick succession as the vehicle neared and then passed him,” the report states.
The driver of the Jeep continued and fled the area. The Jeep was later located in Brampton. The two people in the Jeep were found later and taken into custody. They had not been injured in the incident.
The Jeep was found abandoned in Brampton. There was damage to the front end where the vehicle struck the officer.
The officer who was hit was rushed to hospital with serious injuries including a fractured right ankle.
No one was injured as a result of the shooting.
A bullet struck a parked Toyota in the neighbourhood and two bullets were found in the Jeep after it was recovered.
A bullet hole found in a parked Toyota.
The SIU found the officer who fired the gun was justified. The officer’s “resort to gunfire constituted reasonable defensive force.”
The driver was intentionally driving toward the officer and firing the gun was an attempt to disable the Jeep in self-defence.
“The last of the three shots is subject to scrutiny as it seems the officer was by the passenger side of the Jeep and, strictly speaking, no longer in danger,” the report states.
“However, I am persuaded that this shot did not run afoul of the remit of authorized force prescribed by section 34 given the speed with which events were unfolding, the tension of the moment, and the delay inherent in reaction times.”
There are no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the use of his gun, the SIU report concluded.
INsauga's Editorial Standards and PoliciesSIU Concludes Investigation into Caledon Firearm Discharge at Vehicle that Drove at OPP Officer@OPP_News https://t.co/r1IRtyXQUA pic.twitter.com/E7qK2qS34c
— Special Investigations Unit (@SIUOntario) February 20, 2024