An officer wasn’t following RCMP policy when he fired his gun on Dec. 13, 2022, during an arrest on Saddle Lake Cree Nation, but his actions were not criminal, according to the report from Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT).
According to the report, police responded to a complaint about an intoxicated person at a St. Paul business. Police recognized the suspect in the security tapes and observed “he had an object tucked in the front of his pants,” which the officer believed to be a sawed off shotgun.
Police followed a stolen minivan driven by the individual to a rural property in Saddle Lake. The minivan backed up and then drove directly towards one of the police vehicles, hitting the front passenger side. The police officer fired one shot from his rifle at the rear passenger tire of the minivan, which then backed up and parked before additional police arrived on scene. The driver of the minivan surrendered a short time later.
A sawed-off shotgun and shells were found inside the minivan.
According to the report, the driver of the minivan was extremely intoxicated on the day of the shooting and was unaware police had shot at the vehicle. The driver also said the gun was already there when he got the vehicle.
RCMP policy is that firearms should not be used to disable a vehicle, citing both the ineffectiveness and dangers of doing so.
“Failing to follow policy is a factor for ASIRT to consider, but it is not determinative. Consequences for failing to follow policy are the domain of the RCMP’s internal processes,” reads the report.
“Instead of shooting at the AP [affected person] and potentially killing him, the SO [subject officer] shot at his tire. The choice not to shoot the AP is obviously a good one.”
According to ASIRT, the driving of the affected person was putting the police who were on foot around him at risk, and the officer who fired the gun had a genuine and well founded fear for the other officer on the scene.
The officer “was justified in taking some action to stop the AP. While shooting the tire out was far from perfect, it was a split-second decision with some logic behind it,” reads the report.
ASIRT investigates any time there is a police-involved shooting.
No names for either the affected person or the police officers involved are included in the report.
