A Chilliwack RCMP officer faces no criminal charges after a Taser incident left a woman with serious injuries last spring.
The woman was holding two knives while threatening one officer who had his sidearm unholstered and pointed at her. A second officer arrived on the scene and deployed his Taser sending her down a set of stairs, an action deemed appropriate and indeed possibly life-saving by the Chief Civilian Director of the Independent Investigation Office of B.C. (IIOBC).
The incident from May 6, 2018 left the woman with a clavicle fracture and a head injury as a result of a fall down stairs.
• READ MORE: Police watchdog called in after Chilliwack woman injured by taser during arrest
The report released March 25 by IIOBC chief civilian director Ronald J. MacDonald included statements from three civilian witnesses, two police officers, police radio transmissions, and data downloaded from the Taser.
The woman, described as AP (affected person) in the report, reportedly came at one officer with two knives after threatening the officer that if he came inside he was “going to get stabbed.”
The officer was attending the home on Paula Crescent responding to a report that the woman had stolen a vehicle from an acquaintance.
.@iiobc is issuing a public report today in a case regarding the serious harm of a female while being apprehended by the RCMP in Chilliwack https://t.co/JlFvu1Mp41
— IIOBC (@iiobc) March 25, 2019
Officer 1 drew his sidearm and pointed it at her, but she refused to drop the knives.
“Officer 1 considered his options given the close quarters in which he found himself with AP who was holding two knives and telling Officer 1 to ‘f—- off [and]… shoot me, I don’t care,'” according to the IIOBC report conclusion.
Upon the arrival of a second officer with a Taser, that officer “was able to avert a potential officer involved shooting by using a less lethal intermediate weapon that de-escalated the situation.”
Officer 1 radioed that his firearm was drawn and he heard Officer 2 respond that he was on his way. Officer 1 knew the second officer carried a Taser. As Officer 2 deployed his Taser the woman fell backwards down the stairs and refused police attempts to provide first aid.
“Officer 1 told other officers that he almost shot AP and told the IIO that he was ‘… so happy to see [Officer 2].'”
The report concluded that officer 2 had a duty to assist his fellow officer with the application of less lethal force.
“Officer 2 used an appropriate level of force to remove the threat posted by AP.
“The force used in this incident was not excessive.”
AP told IIOBC thatt she did not remember what he said or if she had anything in her hands during the incident. She also couldn’t remember how it happened because she kept blacking out.
“I remember things were hitting my chest and I was thinking it was a bullet and I am thinking I was dead and I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up in the hospital,” AP told IIOBC.
In the end, MacDonald concluded the officers acted appropriately and no officer committed an offence.
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