Latest news with #IndependentInvestigationUnitofManitoba
Winnipeg Free Press
26-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Taser used on fleeing, handcuffed male
Police say an officer used a Taser on a cyclist they had stopped for disobeying traffic laws and handcuffed after spotting a weapon. Officers stopped the male on the 500 block of Spence Street shortly before 6 p.m. Friday and saw 'an edged weapon sticking out of his pocket.' They arrested and handcuffed the male, who broke free and ran away while being taken to a police cruiser. The male ran through the intersection of Young Street and Sargent Avenue, was 'grazed' by a vehicle and stumbled but did not fall, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Monday. An officer used a Taser on the male to 'prevent him from serious injury' as he 'continued to run in and out of traffic,' the release said. The man fell to the ground. He was transported to hospital and treated for two hairline fractures to his lower jaw and a laceration on his chin. 'The male was in possession of tools and weapons, including bear spray,' the WPS said. He is facing 15 charges related to weapons, fleeing police and breaches. The province's police watchdog, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, asked witnesses or anyone with video that might help investigators to call 1-844-667-6060.
Winnipeg Free Press
22-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
No charges for man's injuries
The province's police watchdog says no charges will be laid after a man was injured while being detained in Opaskwayak Cree Nation this fall. The man and two male First Nations safety officers slipped on a freshly mopped floor in a licensed hotel, with one of the officers falling on the man, on Oct. 28. The officers were trying to detain the man under The Intoxicated Persons Detention Act, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said in a report released Thursday. The incident was recorded on video.
Winnipeg Free Press
06-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Truck ran red light before crash: IIU
A video confirmed a stolen pickup truck ran a red light when it collided with a police vehicle last year, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba says. Two men were seriously hurt after they jumped into the bed of the 2023 Ford F150 as it was being stolen on the 800 block of Dudley Avenue on the night of Sept. 14. The truck belonged to one of the men, who called 911 and provided real-time directions while the stolen vehicle drove around. He told a 911 operator to advise officers not to hit the truck. He later told the IIU he had tried opening the locked driver's door before jumping into the rear of the truck. The vehicle went over a tire-deflation device an officer had put down in a back lane near the intersection of Brandon Avenue and Osborne Street but kept moving. The truck then went through a red light at 46 km/h and was hit by an unmarked canine-unit vehicle that was travelling at 81 km/h. Video confirmed the police vehicle had a green light and had its emergency lights on, the IIU report said. The two men were ejected from the truck's bed and landed about 20 metres away, the Winnipeg Police Service told the IIU. The vehicle's owner suffered a fractured skull, two broken ribs and a fractured left collarbone. The other man suffered compression fractures of five vertebrae and a rib fracture. He told the province's police watchdog that he did not know at the time who had stolen the truck but later found out that it was a relative. Two people were arrested near the crash site and treated for non-serious injuries, the WPS said in September. The male driver, who was 17 at the time, was charged with several offences, police said. A girl, who was 15 at the time, was charged with theft over $5,000. It's not clear what happened with the charges, but the IIU does not release full reports on incidents when an accused remains before the courts. One of the teens charged confirmed the driver tried to go through a red light, the IIU said. The WPS said in September that the canine unit officer was also hurt and taken to hospital. The IIU said it did not recommend charges against the officer, who stated in notes handed over to investigators that the truck came out of nowhere and that he had no time to react. In another report released Tuesday, the IIU said no officers will be charged in connection with an injured woman who was arrested twice in three days this summer. The IIU said officers came across the woman, who appeared to be intoxicated while lying on the ground screaming, near Des Meurons and Goulet streets on the night of Aug. 3. Officers noted she had 'numerous visible facial injuries.' The woman allegedly assaulted Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service members while they were examining her. Police took her to Main Street Project, where she allegedly assaulted officers. The woman later tried to bite an officer at police headquarters, the WPS told the IIU. She was released from police custody, but officers arrested her again at a home on the first 100 block of Morrow Avenue on the night of Aug. 5. The woman, who allegedly got into a fight with the homeowner, was later found to have 'numerous facial fractures' and a pre-existing spine injury. A final report on the investigation won't be released until charges against the woman have been dealt with in court, the IIU said in a news release Tuesday. fpcity@
Winnipeg Free Press
28-04-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Report sheds light on dramatic hostage rescue
A report by the province's police watchdog says officers made a split-second decision to try to free a woman in a hostage-taking that ended with officers fatally shooting a man. Methamphetamine was found in the 52-year-old man's system, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said in a report released Monday. The shooting happened inside an apartment suite at 25 Furby St. on the afternoon of Dec. 28, 2023. The Winnipeg Police Service has previously said the man, whom they did not publicly identify, was a person of interest in the slaying of Delta, B.C., truck driver Farah Mohamud, 34. Mohamud's body was found in a suite on the fifth floor of the same apartment complex on Boxing Day 2023. The IIU report does not mention the slaying. Police outside 25 Furby on Dec. 28, 2023 (Free Press files) A 23-year-old man escaped the hostage situation via a balcony. A member of the WPS tactical support team convinced the hostage-taker to release a 33-year-old woman and a three-year-old child while talking to him for two hours through a hole in the door made by a police battering ram. The ram failed to knock the barricaded door down. Officers used a drone to monitor the man as he continued to hold a 19-year-old woman at knifepoint. At times, the man was pushing her body against the hole and threatening to kill her. The officer who negotiated the release of the two hostages told the IIU he was ready to shoot the man if he could, but the man was always holding the woman in front of him, with a knife to her throat. The man made various demands, including for a pack of cigarettes, and 'would start a countdown for when the task needed to be completed,' the report said. Police were authorized to try to rescue the woman if there was an opportunity. One officer watching the situation on a video monitor had been given 'background information' that the man was previously involved in an earlier hostage-taking that had 'significantly injured the hostage.' When he saw the hostage-taker bend down to the ground, creating some separation from the woman, he told the rescue team to enter. Two officers said in prepared statements that they believed the man was going to harm his hostage. They both fired four to six rifle shots at the hostage-taker. A preliminary autopsy report found the man died at the scene from gunshot wounds to the head area, the IIU report said. The officer who became the primary negotiator once he arrived said he did not know about the sudden rescue attempt until it was underway. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. 'It is my view that, in the full consideration of the circumstances of this hostage-taking incident, the use of lethal force by the subject officers was authorized and justified by law,' IIU acting civilian director Bruce Sychuk wrote in the report. The woman officers rescued was held hostage for about five hours. She was interviewed twice by the IIU but did not recall many details about the incident, the report said, except that the man was angry at her for dropping her phone just before he was shot. The city's then-police chief told reporters at the time that officers did not know whether the man knew the hostages or how he might have known them, adding he was known to frequent the building. Danny Smyth also said the dead man had an 'extensive' criminal record for violence and weapons offences and was subject to several weapons prohibitions. fpcity@
CBC
28-04-2025
- CBC
Police watchdog clears officers in fatal shooting during hostage situation in Winnipeg
Officers involved in a fatal shooting of a man during a hostage situation in Winnipeg's West Broadway area will not face charges. The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba released a final report on Monday, saying it has looked into the matter and "following due consideration of all the circumstances, the civilian director will not be authorizing charges." Around 1:45 p.m. on Dec. 28, 2023, officers were called to an apartment block the corner of Furby Street and Cornish Avenue about a 19-year-old woman being held captive by a man armed with an edged weapon. The report said the man was holding the woman by the neck in the hallway of the third floor, according to the IIU report. The man then barricaded himself and the woman inside a suite where officers learned there was also a child and two other adults. The Tactical Support Team was then called out and tried negotiating with the man. Eventually, a 33-year-old woman and a three-year-old child were released from the suite, and a 23-year-old man escaped by scaling down the exterior of the building from a third-floor balcony. Officers couldn't convince the man to release the 19-year-old woman, though. "Out of concern for the life and well-being of the hostage a rescue plan was developed," the IIU report states. Just after 5 p.m. the TAC team broke into the suite, during which the man was shot and killed. The woman was not injured. Thirteen officers were interviewed as part of the IIU investigation. A civilian witness also provided a statement. The probe also looked over notes and other reports from officers, audio transmissions between the TAC team negotiator and man who was shot, drone video, photos from the scene and forensic analysis. Images from a drone that was able to see inside the suite showed the man holding the woman, pressing a knife to her neck. Officers had also received information the man had harmed another woman during a prior hostage situation in Calgary One officer interviewed by the IIU said the man was yelling and agitated and the TAC team, of which the officer was part, was advised to "take action" if a situation was presented. At one point, officers used a battering ram in an attempt to break the door down, but it only left a large hole. On several occasions, the man would walk to the gap in the door, holding the woman in front of him, and yell at the officers, the report states. One officer fired a Taser through the hole in the door but missed the man. The five-hour standoff ended when the drone camera showed some space between the man and the woman, who had bent down after dropping a phone. Eight officers stormed the suite and fired multiple shots, after which the man was declared dead.
