The province's police watchdog says an OPP officer will not be charged following its investigation into the death of a man in Burk’s Falls last summer.
The Special Investigations Unit says provincial police were contacted July 16, 2014 about a man with a gun near the corner of Berriedale and North Pickerel Lake roads at a road construction site with a firearm.
A 9-1-1 call captured the man’s voice observing the police approach and yelling at them to stay at the corner. Soon after, a single gunshot was fired.
The 54-year-old suffered a firearm injury and was taken to the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The SIU say they seized the police guns and it was determined none of them had been fired.
“It is evident from a review of all the evidence that the man died from a single self-inflicted gunshot, very soon after the arrival of the police at the spot where he had ordered a woman into her vehicle at gunpoint. The police had no time or opportunity to prevent what occurred. In the result there was no evidence whatsoever that any of the involved officers had any culpability in his death and there is no basis for laying criminal charges in this case,” said SIU Director Tony Loparco in a release on Thursday.
The SIU is an arm's length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
