Brantford Police Service officers were dispatched to a residence for a domestic dispute between a woman and a 34-year-old man on April 13, 2023.
Officers arrived to find the man seated on the front stoop of a residence, while holding a knife up against his neck. The man was distraught and indicated he wanted to die. He cried and told the officers to shoot him. Attempts were made to communicate with the man and de-escalate the situation.
The man did eventually drop the knife. However, when he quickly moved to retrieve it, he was struck with the probes of a conducted energy weapon fired by an officer. At the same time, two other officers fired a single round from their ARWENs, neither of which struck the man. Officers took the man into custody. He had suffered no serious injury.
On his assessment of the evidence, SIU Director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that any officer committed a criminal offence in connection with their use of the ARWENs. There was no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case, and the file has been closed.
