
B.C. police watchdog finds grounds to charge Mountie in shooting
British Columbia's police oversight agency says it has found reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against a Mountie who shot and seriously injured a man more than four years ago.
A statement Wednesday from the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. says the agency has referred its findings to the B.C. Prosecution Service, which will now decide whether or not to charge the officer with a crime.
The shooting occurred just before 7 a.m. on May 31, 2021, when a Prince George RCMP officer approached a man near the North Star Inn on Victoria Street.
'During the interaction that followed, shots were fired by police, and the man sustained a serious gunshot injury,' the police watchdog said in the statement.
'As releasing the details of the interaction could prejudice a potential prosecution, more information will not be provided at this time.'
According to an earlier statement from the agency, police were conducting a traffic stop when the shooting occurred, and officers administered first aid to the man until paramedics arrived to take him to hospital.
The IIO says Jessica Berglund, its chief civilian director, reviewed the evidence in the case and 'determined that reasonable grounds exist to believe that one officer may have committed an offence in relation to the use of a firearm.'
Before provincial prosecutors can approve any charges, they must be satisfied there is a substantial likelihood of conviction based on the evidence supplied by the police oversight agency. Prosecutors must also determine that prosecuting the officer is in the public interest.
The IIO investigates all police-related incidents that result in serious harm or death in B.C., whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing by police.
'Serious harm' is defined in the provincial Police Act as an injury that may result in death, disfigurement or loss of function of a limb or organ.
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