Dumb and dangerous Canadian cop

How come he was let loose without effective marksmanship training?

A London police officer who fired 19 bullets at a fleeing robbery suspect — hitting homes, sheds and decks but no people — won’t face criminal charges. It’s unclear, however, whether the officer will face any Police Act, or internal discipline, charges.

The Free Press has learned that a post-shooting report — compiled by internal investigators, reviewed by use-of-force experts and an outside Crown attorney — concludes the suspect took a firing position several times and the unidentified officer fired in return.

Other details of the shooting on Tweedsmuir Ave. in east London last Aug. 12 are to be released Monday at a news conference at police headquarters.

Police Chief Murray Faulkner declined comment about the information, obtained from a police source. “As I promised, the information will be released to all the media at the same time — the details, the circumstances, the follow-up investigation and the review,” said Faulkner.

Const. Rick Robson, president of the London Police Association, could not be reached for comment Sunday.

On Friday, Robson said the officer, whose name police haven’t released, is “looking forward to a resolution.” He said the officer, on administrative duty since the shooting, is anxious to return to the street.

The shooting followed a five-hour robbery spree that began just before midnight Aug. 11 when a man, who claimed to be armed, tried to hold up a Subway store on Hamilton Rd., a gas bar on Highbury Ave. and a variety store on Commissioners Rd.

The suspect, Paul O’Connell, 37, was arrested by police on a deck in a backyard after the shooting. He pleaded guilty to two robberies, attempted theft, failing to stop for police and possession of a stolen vehicle and was sentenced to four years in prison.

After the robberies, a police officer spotted the suspect in a stolen SUV on Highbury Ave. and a brief chase through the Fairmont subdivision ended when the SUV crashed into a street light on Tweedsmuir Ave. O’Connell was fleeing with a cash box under his arm and raised his arm as if preparing to fire a gun, court was told during the trial.

The police officer fired 19 shots as O’Connell was chased through several rear yards before other officers arrived and arrested him on the deck of a home on Queenston Cres.

The bullets hit buildings but no people. One man who heard the commotion had just stepped away from a window in his home when a bullet ripped through its frame and landed in a closet wall.

The shooting sparked a public outcry, with many Londoners questioning why the officer, a five-year veteran, fired so many shots.

In a jailhouse interview a couple of days after the shooting, O’Connell denied taking a firing position, as police reported, and claims he told the officer he was unarmed.

Original report here



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