Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), has concluded its investigation into a police shooting at a hospital in Fort Erie last year.
Investigators say the incident involved a Niagara Regional Police officer discharging his firearm in the hallway of Douglas Memorial Hospital’s Urgent Care Centre after a man allegedly entered the room of another patient and stabbed him with a large hunting knife.
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On May 18, 2018, Niagara police reported that two patients were involved in the stabbing. Police said a 29-year-old man entered the room of a 61-year-old patient and stabbed him. As hospital staff and patients fled the area, the suspect allegedly proceeded to roam the hospital’s hallways with the knife in his hands.
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Officers allege that when they confronted the suspect and asked him to drop the knife, he charged at an officer and that officer discharged his firearm, striking the man once.
Both patients involved were eventually transported to the Erie County Medical Centre in Buffalo, N.Y., for treatment.
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Five investigators and three forensic investigators were assigned to the case.
SIU director Tony Loparco ended the case after his agency determined there were no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against the officer.
—With files from the Canadian Press