The province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has found London police officers are not at fault in the death of a man who shot himself earlier this year in Greenway Park.
Police were called to the park by a man who said he was going to take his own life on the morning of February 22. When officers arrived, they found him sitting by the dock, holding a gun. The man said he was not going to hurt anyone other than himself.
A trained negotiator spoke to the man for just under an hour before the man fired the weapon. He was taken to hospital where he died the following day.
As police were present when the man suffered the fatal head injury, the SIU was called in to investigate. The investigation found officers acted quickly in clearing the park of any bystanders and vehicle traffic.
"Though the [man] had emphasized that he had no intention of hurting anyone other than himself, he was of unsound mind and armed with a gun," said SIU Director Joseph Martino. "For those same reasons, I am unable to fault the officers for maintaining a safe distance from the [man] throughout their engagement, a fact which effectively foreclosed the potential use of less lethal weapons as a means of taking the man into custody."
Police also consulted with an on-call psychologist during the incident, Martino noted.
"Though the [man] was able to make good on his intentions, that was through no fault of the involved officers. Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges," Martino concluded.
