Mississauga, ON – On the evening of February 25, 2018, a man stabbed another individual at a grocery store in Ottawa, and then fled to a nearby residential area. Ottawa Police Service officers were dispatched. When a police officer went down a narrow walkway, the person of interest jumped into the walkway with a knife in his hand, raised to shoulder height. He moved toward the officer, and when he did not comply with the officer’s commands to drop the knife, the officer shot the man multiple times. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Tony Loparco, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against the officer in this case.
The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. Under the Police Services Act, the Director of the SIU must
- consider whether an officer has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
- depending on the evidence, lay a criminal charge against the officer if appropriate or close the file without any charges being laid
- report the results of any investigations to the Attorney General.
