Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has found no reasonable grounds to believe a Brantford Police Service officer committed a criminal offense in connection with shooting a 27-year-old man in Paris in May.
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At about 4 pm on May 29, a joint forces operation involving Brantford Police Service and Durham Regional Police Service officers had the man under surveillance.
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The SIU report, issued on Tuesday, said the man had become the target of a drug-trafficking investigation and officers had secured warrants to search his home in the Scenic Ridge Gate area in Paris.
The report said the man was returning to his home from a trip to Toronto where, the suspected officers, he had made a purchase of a significant quantity of an illicit substance.
Brantford police officers in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles waited for him near his home.
The man was unaware he was being followed by police, said the report. As he neared his home, man reversed his Tesla onto his driveway when two unmarked police vehicles suddenly appeared.
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The SIU report said the man accelerated toward one of the police officers, who was able to jump out of the way.
Another officer, fearing that officer was going to be hit by the vehicle, pointed his firearm at the man and fired four times, said the SIU. The man was struck twice in the arm.
Despite his wounds, the man drove across the front lawn of the neighboring home and into Brantford. He was found a short time later in the area of St. George Street and Belaire Road and taken to hospital.
A media release issued by the Brantford Police Service after the incident in May, said a 27-year-old Paris man is facing several trafficking charges after police seized about $511,000 worth of illicit drugs.
Police said the accused was in possession of about 2,039 grams of suspected cocaine, with an estimated street value of $204,000, at the time of his arrest.
The Special Investigations Unit is a civilian law enforcement agency that investigates incidents involving an official where there has been death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm at a person or an allegation of sexual assault.
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