Loved ones identify Innisfil man who died following police use of taser

Warning: Details in this article may be disturbing and triggering from some readers.

The family of an Innisfil, Ont. man who died Friday after being shot with a taser during an arrest following a traffic stop in Barrie is demanding answers.

Loved ones have confirmed Edward Essue, 29, died after being tasered by Barrie police during a traffic stop early Friday morning, when police said Essue, who was a passenger in a BMW pulled over for suspected impaired driving, ran from police and died.

• SIU investigating death of man in Barrie, Ont.

“There’s no reason that he should be dead right now. There just isn’t,” said Essue’s friend Bailey Varley who says she was behind the wheel of the BMW at 3 a.m. on Friday along Dunlop Street West in Barrie.

Varley says police stopped her because her temporary licence plates had expired. Barrie Police Service says the vehicle was pulled over for suspected impaired driving. Varley says the officer told her he smelled alcohol and she admits to having a few drinks hours earlier. Varley says she was arrested for impaired driving and taken from the scene while her friend Edward Essue was still in her car.

Barrie police said Essue ran from officers and was chased to a backyard along Frances Street where a taser was used and Essue became lifeless.

Varley says she found out her friend was dead hours later when she was released from a police department holding cell. At first, Varley says she did not believe Essue had died.

“He’s gone and I kept telling myself maybe it’s not real. It can’t be real. I can’t wrap my head around it,” says Varley, who explains she does not feel safe anymore following the death of her friend during an arrest.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is now trying to figure out how Essue died and whether the actions of Barrie police were legally justified.

Essue’s family tells CTV News the coroner’s report found Essue died of cardiac arrest and was shot with a taser in his left leg and chest.

Court records obtained by CTV News reveal Essue had previous run-ins with the law including failing to comply with probation order from October 2025.

Loved ones say Essue was an excellent student athlete who studied at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora and then Queen’s University for Engineering. Essue did not graduate and found himself recently living with family and friends in Barrie and Innisfil.

Essue is the father of a young daughter. His family says Essue was a loving uncle, brother and son, describing him as gentle and peaceful.

His loved ones are demanding accountability and answers to the circumstances that led from a man sitting in a passenger seat during a traffic stop to being dead in the backyard of a Barrie home.

“I’m very angry, you know, my soul is crushed,” says Varley. “And I think whatever happened, it needs to come out and, you know, if necessary, justice needs to be served in his honour.”

The SIU is not providing further information on the case as Essue’s loved ones now prepare to lay him to rest one month shy of what would’ve been his 30th birthday.