News Release

News Release

SIU Concludes Brantford Police Shooting

Case Number: 07-OFI-099   

TORONTO (28 August, 2007) --- The SIU investigation revealed that on May 27, 2007 at approximately 4:25 a.m., two BPS officers in a marked cruiser noticed the driver of a black minivan driving at excessive speed in the area of Sheridan and Charlotte Streets. The officers requested assistance as they followed the van. They followed the minivan to the rear parking lot of a plaza at 96 Dalhousie Street where an officer in an unmarked police cruiser joined them. The officers activated the cruisers' emergency lights and sirens and initiated a pursuit of the van as it travelled westbound on Dalhousie Street. The pursuit lasted approximately 2.5 kilometres and ended at Waterloo and Albion Streets when the minivan stopped. The officers stopped their cruisers around the minivan, got out of their cars, and approached the van. One of the officers had his firearm drawn. They ordered the driver of the van to exit the van, but he did not. Instead he started to accelerate forward in what they believed was a further attempt to elude them. There was a confrontation between the officers and the driver of the minivan and as a result the officer shot four times at the moving van. All four shots hit the van with two of them going through the front windshield into the passenger compartment.

The 15-year-old female passenger in the minivan was shot once in the arm. She was taken to hospital where she was treated and released later that day. The 17-year-old male driver was not injured and currently faces charges as a result of this incident.

Director Cornish concluded that there were no reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal offence was committed by the officer in connection with the shooting that resulted in the gunshot injury to the 15-year-old female passenger.

The Director stated, " The evidence establishes that the officer was in the lawful execution of his duties at the time he fired his weapon. ... The evidence further establishes in my view that the officer's conduct in shooting at the driver of the van was a reasonably necessary use of force to thwart a danger to life and limb. … While the 15-year-old passenger received a serious bullet wound to her left forearm, it was most fortuitous that neither she or the driver was killed."


The SIU will not be releasing any further information in relation to this investigation in order to protect the fair trial interests of the young man and the community.

The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (municipal, regional and provincial police officers, police officers with the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, 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

SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES