Charges against 3 OPP officers dropped in fatal shooting of 1-year-old boy in Kawartha Lakes

All charges against three Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers accused in the fatal shooting of an 18-month-old boy during an abduction investigation in Kawartha Lakes in Nov. 2020 have been dropped, a Crown attorney on the case confirmed to CityNews on Monday.

The union representing OPP Constables Nathan Vanderheyden, Kenneth Pengelly and Grayson Cappu released a statement calling the decision to drop the charges “correct and just.”

The three constables were facing charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence in the boy’s death.

On Nov. 26, 2020, the OPP received reports that a father, later identified as William Shapiro, 33, had abducted his son, Jameson Shapiro, just before 9 a.m. that morning.

Officers discovered a vehicle of interest a short time later and attempted to stop the pickup truck.

A police chase ensued, and an OPP cruiser collided with the suspect vehicle on Pigeon Lake Road in Kawartha Lakes.

An altercation then occurred, and the three officers discharged their weapons. Jameson died that same day, while his father later died in hospital.

The charges were ultimately dropped after prosecutors conceded there was no reasonable prospect of conviction after evidence emerged that William Shapiro was holding a gun at the time and the officers fired their weapons in self-defence.

At the time, the OPP Association said the officers did all they could to arrest the father without resorting to violence.

“Our officers were dealing with a man with a gun in a vehicle with his abducted son. No police officer goes to work wanting to harm a child,” the association said in a release.

Association President John Cerasuolo released a statement Monday after the charges were dropped.

“The circumstances of this incident involving the death of an innocent child are tragic for all involved,” he said.

“We offer our sympathies to the child’s family. It is our duty to serve and protect, and we take that duty very seriously. Unfortunately, as police officers protect public safety in highly volatile and fast-moving dangerous situations, unexpected outcomes may result. It is a correct and just decision made today that the charges against our members have been withdrawn. We have stated from the outset that our members acted courageously and professionally during an extremely dangerous situation.

“We were confident that as the case proceeded through the justice system, the evidence would vindicate the officers. It is important for the public to understand that if police are charged with an offence, they have the presumption of innocence, and in this case, it has been determined that on the totality of the evidence, there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. Our officers were doing their job according to their training.”

With files from The Canadian Press