A Burnaby RCMP officer who shot a robbery suspect in 2015 will not face charges despite the case having been forwarded to the B.C. Prosecution Service by the province’s police watchdog.
In the early morning hours of March 1, 2015, two Burnaby Mounties were stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Edmonds St. and Canada Way when they spotted two men in balaclavas and a clerk with his hands up at a 7-Eleven across the intersection, according to a B.C. Prosecution Service report released Friday.
It looked to one of the officers like the man near the door was holding a gun.
As the marked police vehicle approached, the suspects left the store and ran to a minivan in the parking lot.
One of the suspects, who was never apprehended or identified, ran away when the police vehicle drove into the lot, but the other suspect jumped into the van and drove it “forcefully” into the police vehicle.
He then reversed and drove the van “at and past” one of the officers, who was shouting at him to stop and show his hands.
Both officers fired into the van, and the driver was hit before driving past the police vehicle, over a parking curb and sidewalk and down Canada Way.
The van was located a short distance away, and the suspect, bleeding heavily, was located nearby with help from a police dog.
He was taken to hospital and has since recovered.
The Independent Investigations Office investigated the shooting and forwarded a report to the prosecution service a year ago, concluding there were reasonable grounds to believe the officer who shot the suspect had committed offences.
After interviewing the suspect and a number of civilian, police and expert witnesses and examining forensic and video evidence, however, the prosecution service has decided not to pursue charges because the Crown wouldn’t be able to prove any of the shots fired by the officer were excessive.
“Given the circumstances of the suspect’s behaviour (flight from an armed robbery, running from the scene, jumping into a vehicle, failing to respond appropriately to police commands, ramming the police vehicle and driving towards the Subject Officer as he went around the police vehicle) it would have been reasonable for the Subject Officer to believe that it was necessary to use potentially lethal force to protect themselves from death or grievous bodily harm,” stated the report.
