The province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared an Orillia OPP officer who discharged an anti-riot weapon (ARWEN) at a 16-year-old during a "mental health crisis" call this summer.
According to an SIU report, the Orillia OPP received a 911 call from a Westmount Road home at about 11:30 a.m. Aug. 9, 2023.
The caller reported a 16-year-old had a knife and had assaulted two family members while in mental health crisis. The caller told police the autistic teen had then "sought refuge in a bedroom, the knife still in hand."
Two officers entered the home and took up a position at the end of a hallway from the bedroom, notes the SIU report. One of the officers called out to the teen and indicated they were police officers.
According to the SIU, the teen opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway. A knife was in his right hand.
"Told to drop the weapon by the (officer), the (teen) drove the knife into the wall to his right and left it there. Moments later, he retrieved the knife from the wall, threatened to kill the (officers) and started walking towards them," notes the SIU report.
The teen had not advanced very far before he was struck by an ARWEN round, dropped the knife, and fell down. He was then handcuffed without further incident.
Paramedics arrived at the scene and transported him to Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital where he was diagnosed with soft-tissue injury to the abdomen, notes the SIU report.
SIU Director Joseph Martino has concluded there are "no reasonable grounds" to believe an officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the use of the ARWEN.
Police officers, he noted, are immune from criminal liability for "force used in the course of their duties provided such force was reasonably necessary in the execution of an act that they were required or authorized to do by law."
Based on the information the officers had of the 911 call, and their personal observations of the youth armed with a knife in the house, "they were within their rights in seeking to take the (teen) into custody," concluded Martino.
"With respect to the ARWEN discharge, I am satisfied that it constituted legally justified force in aid of the (suspect's) arrest," he said. "The (officer) had just been threatened with death by the (teen), who was brandishing a knife and advancing on the officer. Coupled with what he knew of the (teen's) violence that prompted the 911 call, the (officer) would have had good reason to believe that he was at risk of an imminent knife attack by the (teen)"
Martino said "it is apparent that the force used by the officer was measured and necessary. If the ARWEN worked as intended, it would temporarily incapacitate the (teen) from a distance without inflicting serious injury, thereby allowing officers to safely move in and effect the ... arrest. That is precisely what happened."
