'No reasonable grounds' for charges against officer in Portage la Prairie shooting death
Use of force justified in 2023 incident: Independent Investigation Unit
WARNING: This story contains information about domestic violence.
Manitoba's police watchdog says there are "no reasonable grounds" to support charges for an RCMP officer who was involved in a 2023 shooting incident that left a Portage la Prairie man dead.
On May 24, 2023, RCMP officers responded to a report of an early morning domestic situation at an apartment in Portage la Prairie.
According to a report by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, which investigates all serious incidents involving police in the province, witnesses heard a woman calling for help, claiming her boyfriend was going to kill her.
When officers arrived they found a man acting erratically, the IIU report says. One officer claimed in the report that the man was armed with an "edged weapon."
The report outlines attempts to use stun guns to incapacitate the man, followed by a physical struggle between the man and the subject officer.
After another officer yelled that the man had a knife, the report says the subject officer told the man to ""drop it, or I'll shoot you," shooting the man when he advanced.
The man died of his wounds, police say.
During its investigation, the IIU found the use of force was "reasonable, proportionate and in accordance with training," and that evidence at the scene was consistent with officers' accounts.
"It is my view that, in the full consideration of the circumstances of this tragic incident, the use of lethal force by the subject officer was authorized and justified by law," Bruce M. Sychuk, the watchdog's acting civilian director, wrote in the report. "There are no reasonable grounds to support any charges against the subject officer."
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