The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. was called in after the shooting on March 16, 2023
Investigators have exonerated a Prince George RCMP officer who shot a suicidal man who charged at the Mountie with a knife.
The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. was called in after the shooting on March 16, 2023, normal procedure when a police interaction leads to a death or serious injury.
Police were responding to a 911 call from a family member of the man, who said the man was distraught and “wants a cop to shoot him.”
The man wouldn’t tell family where he was, but police were able to ping his phone to see that he was roughly 40 kilometres south of Prince George.
The responding officers received a miscommunication from dispatchers about exactly where the man was, leading to a surprise close confrontation with the man in his car on the side of Highway 97.
The original plan was to approach slowly and use a negotiator to de-escalate things. But that was foiled by the misunderstanding about his location, said IIO director Ronald J. MacDonald, in a report released Thursday.
Another miscommunication had officers under the mistaken impression that the man might have two family members with him in the car, so there was a sense of urgency about protecting them and potentially avoiding a hostage situation.
When officers spotted the man, he got out of his car and began charging at the officer who was the subject of the IIO investigation.
One of the other officers said he tried to block the man with his vehicle but he ran past and charged at the other officer while wielding a knife. That officer heard several gunshots, several of which missed the man, but a fifth shot as the officer tried to retreat proved fatal.
MacDonald’s report also noted that the man had a similar confrontation with police in 2018 that led to the man saying he was disappointed he hadn’t brought it to a fatal conclusion.
MacDonald concluded there is no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed an offence.