Ontario’s police watchdog says it has charged a former Peel officer after a 34-year-old woman was shot on Mother’s Day in Mississauga.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said officers were called to a home on Ledbury Crescent, near Mavis Road and Matheson Boulevard West, for a domestic call on May 10.
The SIU said the officers encountered a man and woman on the front porch of the home, there was an “interaction” and two officers used Tasers before one of the officers discharged her firearm.
The victim, Chantelle Krupka, was transported to hospital with a gunshot wound.
Krupka alleges that her ex-partner called police on her when she said she was asking him to spend time with her 10-year-old son on Mother’s Day.
She then alleges that two officers showed up and told her and her current partner, Michael Headley to go outside.
The situation escalated and police tasered both Krupka, who is Black, and Headley. She said neither had threatened the officers.
At a news conference in June, Krupka said the jolt threw her onto her porch and that she thought it would kill her. When she tried to help Headley, she said the officer shot her in the abdomen.
Police later charged both Krupka and Headley, which Krupka said was an attempt to justify the use of force.
Krupka has complained to the province’s civilian watchdog, accusing the officers involved of using excessive force, unlawful arrest and discreditable conduct. The complaint also alleges systemic racism against Peel Regional Police.
Former Peel Regional Police officer Valerie Briffa was charged on Thursday with criminal negligence causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon and careless use of a firearm.
According to Peel Regional Police, Briffa — a probationary constable — resigned on June 29.
She was arrested at the SIU’s office and released on a promise to appear in a Brampton court on Aug. 4. She was also told not to speak with, or being in proximity to, witnesses as well as not to possess firearms or other weapons.
The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
—With files from Kamil Karamali and The Canadian Press