ASIRT clears Calgary police officer of wrongdoing after firing gun during 2018 Martindale incident – Calgary

Alberta’s police watchdog has completed an investigation into a 2018 incident in which a Calgary Police Service officer fired a gun at a driver who nearly hit them.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team found there were “no reasonable grounds to believe a criminal offense was committed” when an officer fired his sidearm at a truck that was driving erratically at him or his female officer partner.

While on patrol at approximately 11:30 p.m. on September 24, 2018, the two police officers riding in the same vehicle checked the plates of a white GMC truck they encountered and determined that it was stolen . They followed the truck but decided not to pull it over while waiting for backup. They briefly lost sight of it, but then found it parked in the driveway of a Martindale home.

When the officers exited their vehicle and addressed themselves as police, the driver of the truck briefly raised his hands.

According to the ASIRT report, the driver then started the truck and drove it up the ramp before quickly backing up.

A parked vehicle prevented a female officer from moving away from the truck as it backed up.

“The (driver) then drove toward (the female officer) until he was approximately 18 inches from her,” ASIRT Assistant Executive Director Matthew Block wrote in his report of the incident.

ASIRT said the exact sequence of the following events was not exactly clear, but believed the driver reversed again, clipped the police vehicle, drove onto the lawns of adjacent homes and collided with a garage.

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After hitting the garage, the driver turned around and drove out of the area.

The female officer heard gunshots while trying to avoid the driver. She saw the male officer on the driveway next to the garage that hit the truck.

Five bullet casings were found in the immediate area.

The male officer who fired said over the radio that “he hit a house, hit our car and, oh, I fired shots – I hit a tire on the road” and “he got in front of us pulled into the driveway and when he tried to , yeah, basically back out of there, he caught or clipped the front corner of our car and then he drove through the side of a garage at another house here and then up drove me,” the ASIRT report said.

ASIRT’s investigation relied on evidence at the scene and an interview with the female officer. The officer who fired his gun did not provide a statement to investigators — as she was entitled to as the subject of a criminal investigation — and neither did the driver of the truck. The police vehicle’s video camera was not recording. This is usually caused by police emergency lights not being on at the time.

Evidence at the scene is consistent with what the female officer told the police watchdog.

An examination of the area and the truck found only shots that hit the front passenger tire of the truck – the tire was missing and only the rim remained.

ASIRT said the driver of the truck “clearly did not follow police directions and drove in a manner that risked hitting one of the officers and causing serious injury or death.”

“While he did not hit (the female officer), it is not clear why,” ASIRT said. “He drove very erratically and apparently could not avoid hitting a garage.

“He was a serious risk to the officers on foot around him.”

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ASIRT said there was “evidence” that the officer fired his weapon “in response to (the driver) driving at him.”

ASIRT found the officer used proportionate force against a vehicle that was driving dangerously and had the potential to strike and injure the officer.

Given the “dynamic nature” of the situation – a vehicle driving erratically at an officer on foot – ASIRT found the officer’s response was necessary and reasonable.

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