The IIO will not make charge recommendations after a volatile man was seriously injured during an encounter in Sept. 2021 in Nanaimo. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

IIO probe

Police cleared after man seriously hurt in high-risk arrest in Nanaimo

Apr 7, 2022 | 4:17 PM

NANAIMO — Actions of police in response to a volatile and armed man were justified, according to a report by the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO).

The man was seriously injured during his arrest on Sept. 23, 2021 at his home after a 911 call stated he was in a deteriorating mental state and was destroying property.

In the IIO decision from chief civilian director Ronald MacDonald, the man was inside his locked home inside a converted garage, was holding knives and refusing the leave. Once on scene, an officer peered inside a see-through glass door, where the subject was in a defensive stance holding a box cutter and a knife, threatening he would attack if the Mountie entered.

“Speaking to IIO investigators after the incident AP (affected person) acknowledged he had two knives in his hands when police came to the door. He also remembered telling officer they would have to kill him if they came in.”

The man responded to police by swearing, threatening, stabbing at a wall and hitting the door with a knife handle.

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The decision was then made to call in the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team (ERT).

De-escalation efforts failed by ERT members, only seeming to make the man angrier. He remained armed, pacing and threatening to kill police.

Out of anger, the subject kicked at the back glass door, causing it to break. He was then shot with a pair of rubber bullets, but was not injured.

A gas canister was then thrown by police through the broken door in a bid to descalate the situation however the man told investigators he threw it back.

“I threw a knife or two at them, too,” he said.

One of the knives hit an ERT member’s shield. An officer stated the man, armed with a knife and hammer, then walked out of his home.

Police responded with a jolt from a taser and a rubber bullet.

As the man was falling forward he still had a knife in his hand, so the taser was used again. At the same time a Police Service Dog was deployed.

The man was treated for a large scalp injury requiring a skin graft, a laceration on the right side of his chin which was closed with five stitches and a shoulder bruise.

He was admitted to hospital involuntarily under the Mental Health Act.

Since the subject fell forward as the dog approached, his injuries were more severe compared to a typical bite to clothing or a limb, the IIO report said.

“The harm caused by the dog bite was severe, but there is no reason to conclude that the degree of harm was intended. Viewed in retrospect, it does not negate the justification for deploying the dog…”

If it weren’t for the presence of ERT members standing by with intermediate weapons capable of disabling the man without killing him, the subject could have been shot and killed by other attending officers, the report said.

“Those applications of force, in these circumstances, were justified and not excessive in response to an aggressive, armed subject.”

The IIO report was based on evidence collected from numerous sources, including interviews with the subject, on-scene police officers, audio recordings, a civilian witness, a nearby surveillance video feed.

Independent of police, the IIO is an oversight agency tasked with investigating incidents of police-involved death or serious harm

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