The police watchdog has cleared Richmond Mounties of any wrongdoing, after a dramatic takedown of a knife-wielding man they had to shoot seven times.
The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO BC) was alerted last October, when the RCMP was called in to deal with reports of a man waving a large kitchen knife in front of a house on Turnill Street, close to Garden City Road and Granville Avenue.
According to the IIO’s report, almost immediately after the officers’ arrival, the man charged at one of the officers – who had his gun drawn and had warned the man to put down the knife – forcing them to shoot at him.
The man made it, according to the IIO, within 10 feet of one of the officers, before being shot three times.
Three shots failed to subdue knife-wielding man
However, the shots apparently didn’t seem to take immediate effect, with the knife-wielding man still slashing at the officer with his knife, “almost making contact.”
The Mountie then fired two more shots while backing away, according to the report.
It was only then that the man – who was armed with a 20-centimetre serrated bread knife - finally fell to the ground.
But it still was not enough to completely subdue him and he rose once more, this time to his knees and again reached for his knife.
It was then that a second officer fired twice at the man, with one bullet making contact and the other, according to the report, hitting the concrete and flying into a nearby house window.
Stray bullet hit nearby window
The IIO’s report indicates that the stray bullet, thankfully, did not penetrate the glass.
The man was later treated for two bullet wounds to his chest, one to his abdomen and one in his thigh.
The IIO detailed how video evidence and independent witness statements corroborated the officers’ accounts of what happened and that, under the circumstances, the officers’ were justified in using potentially lethal force.
“While in every challenging interaction with a member of the public, police should consider attempts at de-escalation, in this case, the officers had to consider their protection first, then move to de-escalation efforts,” wrote Ron MacDonald, the IIO’s chief civilian director.
“Given (the man’s) virtually immediate response to police presence was to charge (the first officer) with every indication of lethal intent, (neither) police officer had any chance at de-escalation.”
