THUNDER BAY — Ontario's Special Investigations Unit says there is no basis to lay charges against police in an incident in which an armed man fell from the third floor of the Victoriaville Parkade, suffering serious injuries.
The case dates back to Feb. 29 of this year, when police received a call about a man with a large hunting knife smashing windows on May Street South.
The initial responding officers located the suspect, drew their firearms, and ordered him to drop the knife, but he ignored them while he exhibited erratic behaviour by dancing and cavorting in front of them.
He was drug-impaired, and represented what the SIU describes as a clear and present threat to himself and others around him.
Realizing the man was in distress, the officers conducted themselves professionally, states the SIU report on the incident.
"They did so at significant risk to themselves as they allowed the complainant within a few metres of their position," it says.
The officers decided to contain the man for the time being, rather than try to subdue him, and followed him while he ran toward the Victoriaville Civic Centre and Mall.
Once in the mall, the officers were able to warn security staff. "That was a good thing as the complainant threatened one of the guards as he passed their location," the report states.
Fearful of being ambushed in the darkness of the building, the officers methodically searched the area, not knowing the suspect had entered the nearby parking garage.
Shortly after, other officers who had arrived on the scene found the man injured on the ground, apparently having lost his grip or footing on the third level of the parkade.
The SIU says the fall happened after the man made the "ill-fated decision" to scale a short retaining wall along the western edge of the building.
Thirteen minutes lapsed between his initial encounter with police and the time he was discovered on the ground.
The SIU examined video from a dozen security cameras as part of its investigation.
It concluded that the officers involved in the incident "did not transgress the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law in the manner in which they pursued and ultimately arrested the complainant.."
In fact, the investigating agency notes that police "could have adopted a more aggressive posture at various points...but that might well have led to a more tragic outcome."
