Sault Ste. Marie police officer cleared in 2024 shooting death of man

Ontario watchdog clears Sault Ste. Marie officer in fatal shooting of man who pointed lighter resembling gun; force deemed justified.

No criminal charges will be laid against the Sault Ste. Marie police officer who shot a man five times last year, after Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) reviewed the case.

It happened the night of May 11, 2024, in the parking lot of a strip mall on Second Line West in Sault Ste. Marie.

Caused a disturbance

Officers responded to a 911 call about an irate man, 37, yelling at customers inside a convenience store just before 10 p.m., the SIU report said.

He left the store on his electric scooter and was stopped by the responding officers, who determined he wasn’t a danger to himself or others, so they allowed him to leave.

The man declined the officers’ offer for a ride home after he told them he was lost.

Police were called again less than half an hour later when “he encountered three females walking eastbound and began speaking nonsensically to them.”

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The same officers found him several blocks away in a strip mall parking lot.

Three additional officers arrived in two marked vehicles and after speaking with the women who had called in the complaint, officers again offered the man a ride home.

Getting a ride home

He agreed and loaded his scooter into the back of a police pick-up truck.

Before he got in the cruiser, he agreed to a search, the SIU report said.

During the pat down, one of the officers noticed something in his pants pocket.

“The complainant said it was a gun and proceeded to pull out what appeared to be a small semi-automatic pistol,” the report said.

“Both officers pulled back and drew their firearms. The complainant pointed the object at the (subject officer) and was met with a volley of gunfire. The (subject officer) had fired his weapon five times in rapid succession.”

According to the SIU, the object the man had in his hand was a cigarette lighter designed to look like a handgun.

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After the man was shot, he fell to the ground and dropped the suspected weapon.

He was handcuffed with his arms behind his back and emergency first-aid was administered before paramedics arrived to take over.

“There are no reasonable grounds to believe that the (subject officer) committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant’s death,” SIU Director Joseph Martino said in his decision.

“I am also satisfied that the force used by the (subject officer) was reasonable. If the (subject officer) believed that he was staring at a firearm pointed in his direction at close range, and I accept that he did, then he had no other recourse than to fire his weapon. Retreat or withdrawal were not available given the immediacy of the threat.”