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Toronto police officer charged in death of man in Niagara Falls

Lights on a parked police vehicle flash. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Matt Rourke

A Toronto police officer has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of a man in Niagara Falls, Ont., last July.

The director of Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, said he had reasonable grounds to believe Toronto Police Const. Andrew Lawson committed a criminal offence in connection to the shooting death of the man.

Lawson, 52, has been charged with one count of manslaughter as a result of the SIU investigation into the 40-year-old man’s death on July 30.

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That morning, members of the Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement squad went to a hotel in Niagara Falls to find a man subject to an outstanding Canada-wide parole revocation warrant, the SIU said.

On finding the man, there was an interaction between him and police and an officer fired his weapon, hitting the man. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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He was arrested at SIU headquarters on Wednesday and later released on an undertaking with conditions.

The Toronto Police Service confirmed to Global News that Lawson had been suspended with pay in accordance with the Community Safety and Policing Act.

Lawson is set to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on May 6.

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