Manitoba’s police watchdog says two Winnipeg police officers won’t see charges after a drunk man wielding a knife was tased and shot last year.
The Independent Investigation Unit said police headed to an apartment on Charles Street after someone called 311 about a dead body on Dec. 11, 2017.
After police repeatedly told the man inside to open the door, he did so, armed with a knife. The man refused to drop the knife, said the IIU, and so police tased him, while the second officer shot him twice, once in the stomach and one shot that nicked his right ear.
He was rushed to hospital in critical condition and survived.
The man was interviewed by the IIU and said he didn’t remember that night because he was extremely drunk. Statements made to the IIU from officers and witnesses all said the man was told many times to drop his weapon.
“The male, in the face of these commands and armed police, chose to produce the knife in a combative style,” said IIU civilian director Zane Tessler in his report.
“The likelihood that the man was capable of using lethal force on any of the officers was real and substantial.”
The man, 25, still faces charges arriving from the incident. There was no dead body in the apartment.
WATCH: Cst. Jay Murray speaks to the media about a police-involved shooting that ended with a 23-year-old Winnipeg male suspect dead.
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