By Canadian Press

Vancouver police officer won’t face charge over use of force: prosecution service

Mar 21, 2024 | 1:52 PM

VICTORIA — The British Columbia Prosecution Service says no charges have been approved against a Vancouver Police officer over an altercation that left a suspect with broken bones and bruises. 

The Independent Investigations Office, B.C.’s police watchdog, filed a report  to the prosecution service to consider charging the officer, saying reasonable grounds exist to believe that they may have committed an offence. 

The notice from the prosecution service says police were called on May 30, 2022, to an assisted living facility for a man threatening staff and behaving strangely. 

The notice says the man was carrying what appeared to be bear spray, and he was still holding the weapon even after being hit with six of seven shots fired at him from a police beanbag gun. 

The service says approving charges hinged on whether the Crown could prove the seventh shot was justified, but the evidence didn’t meet prosecutors’ charge approval standard. 

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It says the service considered charges of assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm, but concluded it would not able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer’s use of force “was unnecessary, unreasonable, or disproportionate.”  

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press