Ontario Provincial Police Block

An officer who shot and wounded a man in a “high-risk take down” amid a suspected abduction on the 401 near Cambridge in late 2024 has been cleared by the province’s police watchdog.

Special Investigations Unit (SIU) director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe an OPP officer had committed a criminal offence in connection with the highway shooting which took place on Nov. 29 last year.

The report released on Friday explained that the OPP received a call about a man who had jumped from a moving pickup truck on the 401 who then returned to the truck covered in blood.

The man had been sitting in the back seat of a Chevrolet pickup truck with his estranged partner and her husband when they got into a heated argument prompting him to exit the vehicle while it was still moving.

The woman in the truck had called 911 but later told them not to respond and intended to drive the man to the hospital. Another person had stopped their vehicle to call for help but was told everything was fine and advised not to call the police.

OPP officers were dispatched to locate the truck and check on the condition of the man and found it travelling eastbound on the 401 towards Kitchener.

“By this time, the truck had travelled past the hospital in Woodstock, heightening concerns about the health and welfare of its occupants and a possible kidnapping scenario,” the report stated.

A sergeant monitoring the situation called for officers to execute a “high-risk takedown” and officers brought their vehicles to a stop at an angle in front of the driver and passenger sides of the truck.

Officers exited their vehicles with guns drawn. One officer shot the driver with a single bullet, striking his right arm.

He was transported to the hospital and treated.

According to the report, the officer believed the driver was about to point and fire a gun at him when he rapidly reached down towards the centre console area of the truck before raising it back up.

The driver did not have a gun in the vehicle and another officer from a different vantage point did not see anything that would indicate the man was retrieving a weapon of any kind just before the shooting happened.

“There is evidence that the complainant was attempting to place the gear shifter of his truck into 'park' around the time of the shooting,” the report stated.

Martino wrote that although the officer was incorrect in his assessment, the belief was a reasonable one in the “highly charged atmosphere” in which police harboured a legitimate concern that the police were dealing with an abduction.

Therefore, the SIU director stated defensive force was justified and there is no basis for criminal charges against the officer, the report stated.

https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-new ... s-11398103

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer of any criminal wrongdoing in an incident last year when a suspect was shot during a “high-risk” takedown.

The situation took place on Nov. 29, 2024. OPP officers were called regarding a man who was seen jumping out of a moving pick-up truck following an argument between its occupants. That man would get back into the vehicle before it continued driving.

Police were able to locate the vehicle in question, found driving eastbound on Hwy 401 toward Kitchener.

“Based on the circumstances, the decision was made to execute a ‘high-risk takedown’,” the SIU said in a statement. “Two officers brought their vehicles to a stop at an angle in front of the driver and passenger side front corners of the pick-up truck, while two other officers positioned their cruisers behind the truck.”

It said that officers in those two front cruisers exited their vehicles with guns drawn. One of the officers “discharged his firearm” in the direction of the 46-year-old male driver, striking the man’s arm in the process.

Both the driver and the occupant of the vehicle were taken to hospital.

The SIU launched an investigation into any potential criminal offences committed during the incident, as is customary for any conduct that results in death, serious injury, assault or discharge of a firearm.

“I am unable to reasonably conclude with any confidence that the officer did not fire his gun to defend himself from a reasonably apprehended threat of gunfire from the Complainant,” SIU Director Joseph Martino said in his report. “The SO was wrong in his assessment, but mistakes of fact will not deprive an officer of the self-defence justification if the mistake was a reasonable one to have been made in the circumstances.”

Martino concluded there are no reasonable grounds to pursue criminal charges against the officer.

The Director’s full report on the incident can be found on the SIU website.

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2025/10/2 ... concludes/

An Ontario Provincial Police officer who shot a man on Highway 401 nearly one year ago has been cleared of all wrongdoing.

On Nov. 29, 2024, an argument broke out between two people who were traveling in a pickup truck on Oxford Road 6. According to a report from the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a man jumped out of the vehicle while it was still moving. He then got back inside after it stopped, and the truck drove off.

Witnesses reported the incident to police who located the vehicle around 5:20 p.m. traveling in the eastbound lanes of the highway between Kitchener and Cambridge.

“Based on the circumstances, the decision was made to execute a ‘high-risk takedown,’” the SIU said. “Two officers brought their vehicles to a stop at an angle in front of the driver and passenger side front corners of the pick-up truck, while two other officers positioned their cruisers behind the truck. The officers in front exited their vehicles with their guns drawn. One of these officers discharged his firearm in the direction of the male driver.”

The 46-year-old man had been shot in his right arm. He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

In the SIU’s report, released on Friday, Director Joseph Martino determined “there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the shooting.”

The SIU investigates all incidents involving police that result in allegations of sexual assault, serious injury or death.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/articl ... ghway-401/