Guelph Police officer not charged in February shooting incident
Posted Jun 27, 2023 06:15:48 AM.
The Special Investigations Unit says no charges will be laid against a Guelph Police officer who shot at an allegedly impaired man seven times who was holding a hatchet and a knife.
It happened in the early afternoon of February 26 this year, when police stopped to check on what appeared to be a stalled car on Paisley Street at Silvercreek Parkway.
The SIU says during an interaction with the man behind the wheel, officers determined he was impaired by alcohol, with signs of cannabis in the car.
The watchdog agency says the man got out of the car, brandishing a hatchet, got back into the car, but came out again moments later, still with the hatchet and a knife.
One of the two responding officers fired seven times, in rapid succession, wounding the 44-year old driver.
Some of the police bullets struck the man’s car.
SIU Director, Joseph Martino, says the presence of the hatchet presented, and the proximity of the driver to the officer, presented a clear threat, and the officer’s defensive gunfire was legal.
