A Vancouver police officer who shot and killed a man in a Downtown Eastside SRO will not be criminally charged, the B.C. Prosecution Service Announced Tuesday.
The fatal shooting happened in a hallway of the Patricia Hotel, a single room occupancy building, on May 5, 2022.
It was investigated by the province’s police watchdog, which found there were reasonable grounds to believe offenses may have been committed and forwarded a report to Crown counsel last year.
“There is no substantial likelihood of conviction for any criminal offence in relation to the incident. As a result, no charges have been approved,” the prosecution service said in a statement.
“In order to maintain confidence in the integrity of the criminal justice system, a clear statement explaining the reasons for not approving charges is made public.”
In this case, the officer – referred to by the BCPS as the “subject officer” or the “SO” – was facing potential charges of manslaughter, discharging a firearm and/or assault with a weapon.
According to the clear statement, officers responded to a 911 report that “a man had assaulted multiple people with a stick, was continuing to wander the hallways with the stick, and that he appeared to be ‘quite out of it,’ experiencing a drug or mental health issue.”
By the time three officers arrived at the building, they had been informed that the man – referred to as the “affected person” or the “AP” – was carrying a knife, the statement continued.
The three officers found the man in a hallway where they ordered him to drop the knife. The statement said the AP was roughly five feet away from the SO at the time.
“The AP did not comply and continued to grip the knife in his right hand. In response, (an officer) immediately deployed three shots from their beanbag gun at the AP’s lower abdomen,” the statement said.
“Slightly after WO2’s first beanbag shot, the SO deployed three rounds from their firearm.”
The AP was pronounced dead after being handcuffed and after attempts at first aid failed, the statement said.
The BCPS explained that the SO was acting as “lethal overwatch” at the time, meaning he was “required to act as cover for the less-lethal operators and, as cover, to be prepared with their firearm to respond should less-lethal options fail or otherwise be inappropriate to address the risk posed to police or others in the circumstances.”
The central consideration when making a charge assessment in the case, the BCPS said, was whether the officer’s use of deadly force was excessive in the circumstances.
Based on the evidence, which included the 911 call about the previous assaults with a stick, statements from the officers who witnessed the shooting, and CCTV video showing the AP was carrying a knife and did not drop it immediately, the BCPS determined “there was an objectively reasonable basis for the SO to believe that the AP then posed a risk of grievous bodily harm or death and that, flowing from this, the SO’s decision to use lethal force was necessary, reasonable, and proportionate in the circumstances.”
