NEWS RELEASE
SIU COMMUNICATIONS
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On October 23, 2023, Niagara Regional Police Service officers were dispatched to a home in St. Catharines for a domestic disturbance. A 48-year-old man had attacked a family member with a knife. Soon after the officers arrived, the man charged at the officers while holding a knife. The man was told to show his hands before a barrage of gunshots rang out from two of the officers. The man succumbed to his wounds in hospital. On his assessment of the evidence, SIU Director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the two officers who discharged their firearms committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s death.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must
- consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
- depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
- publicly report the results of its investigations
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