Officer won’t face charges after Brampton man fatally shot during traffic stop

No charges will be laid against a Peel police officer in the case of a 33-year-old man Brampton man who was shot and killed during a traffic stop last year.

Jermaine Carby was shot three times after the car he was in was pulled over near Kennedy Road North and Queen Street East around 10 p.m. on Sept. 24.

According to the SIU, a second unit was called in after a routine search of his Carby’s name revealed he had outstanding warrants from British Columbia and a criminal record. When officers from the second unit began questioning Carby about the warrants the situation quickly turned into a shouting match.

The SIU said Carby pulled out a knife and began moving toward the officers, goading them to shoot him.

Police demanded Carby stop walking toward them and drop his weapon. They then called for an officer with a Taser to come to the scene but none arrived.

When Carby continued to move toward the officers he was shot multiple times – in the chest, left forearm and back.

“One of the witness officers says he feared for his life and tried to shoot Mr. Carby, but his firearm misfired twice,” Tony Loparco, director of the SIU said in a release. “The other witness officer also says he was about to shoot – fearing for the lives of the other officers as Mr. Carby closed the distance to about one-and-a-half metres from the officers – when he heard gunshots.”

The SIU determined the officer involved shot at Carby seven times in quick succession, with three of the bullets hitting the victim and causing fatal wounds.

“I am satisfied on the basis of the rapidity of the shots fired, the tension and volatility of the situation, the impact of reaction times and the movements of the players in a highly dynamic sequence of events, the number of bullets missing Mr. Carby and the existing uncertainty regarding which round caused which wound, that the shot to Mr. Carby’s back did not run afoul of the self-defence justification,” Loparco said.

Following Carby’s death, his family members raised several questions about shooting, the most important of which being where was the knife he was allegedly holding but was not found on scene when the SIU arrived.

Loparco said the knife, which was a kitchen knife with a serrated blade, was handed over to the SIU several hours after the shooting from an acting police sergeant, who said he had received it from another officer who had arrived at the scene just as the shooting ended.

That officer told the SIU he had used his left foot to step on the knife, which was still in Carby’s right hand, and drag it toward the curb lane. He later picked up the knife, placed it in a brown paper bag and handed it to a sergeant.

“It is highly regrettable that one officer removed the knife from the scene,” said Loparco. “His ill-advised conduct has cast a pall over the integrity of the SIU’s investigation.”

Peel police told CityNews they would be investigating the conduct of the officer as well as their own policies.

“With regard to the knife the SIU Director states was removed from the scene, Peel Regional Police Investigative Support Bureau will be conducting a comprehensive Administrative Review, as mandated by the Police Services Act, to review the policies of, and the services provided by, our police service and the conduct of our police officers.”

Eight investigators and three forensic investigators were assigned to the case and determined that the officer who shot Carby acted accordingly and that there were no reasonable grounds to press charges.