SIU clears officers in CNE grounds shooting
Posted March 23, 2013 5:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit has determined that two officers who shot at a vehicle fleeing the scene of a shooting on CNE grounds were justified in their actions.
On Feb. 15, the officers were working as paid duty in uniform at the Muzik nightclub when Naveed Shahnawaz, 19, was shot after a fight broke out in the parking lot
Shahnawaz was rushed to hospital where he later died.
A witness told the officers the suspect’s vehicle was still in the parking lot.
The SIU’s investigation determined that the officers attempted to stop the suspect’s vehicle by blocking an exit kiosk.
When the car stopped, officers demanded the suspects exit the vehicle. The driver then accelerated, veering the car into the path of one of the officers.
The officer fell out of the way of the car and shot seven times into the driver’s side door. At the time time the second officer shot twice into the back of the vehicle.
The car then crashed into a snowbank on Dufferin Street, near Liberty.
SIU director Ian Scott said the actions of the officers were justified and no charges will be laid.
“I am of the view that the discharges of both subject officers were justified in these circumstances,” Scott said in a news release Saturday. “In my view, (the first officer) had the lawful authority to defend himself from death or serious bodily harm by the use of lethal force. Similarly, the discharges by the second officer are justified in law because of his reasonable assessment of imminent risk of death or serious harm to his partner.”
Both occupants of the vehicle were transported to hospital, and placed in police custody.
Tony Hoang Dinh, 18, suffered a non life-threatening wound to the arm. He has been charged with first-degree murder, in addition to numerous other criminal offences.
The SIU said Jonathan Kwok-Ho Lau, 19, was shot in the arm and a second projectile entered his left chest and lodged in his left lung. He was charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, assault with a weapon and breach of recognizance.
