IIO not recommending charges for Kamloops officers following 2021 tasing

KAMLOOPS — B.C.’s police watchdog will not recommend charges against Kamloops RCMP officers after a man suffered permanent brain damage from a tasing last winter.

In a report published Tuesday (Sept. 20), the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) says officers responded to a call of a man experiencing a psychotic episode after going three days without sleep. IIO says officers saw him throw a rock at a vehicle, a snowball at an ambulance, and attempt to pull a delivery driver from their car.

According to the report, the man ran at one officer and another officer discharged a taser at him. The initial officer then discharged his taser after the man was still mobile, then the man fell backwards onto the ground and struck his head.

IIO Chief Civilian Director Ronald MacDonald says officers had reasons to be concerned about how to restrain the man and take him into custody, and the potential risks to the public and to himself if they couldn’t.

“The [taser] does not generally cause serious harm (though it obviously has the potential to do so),” MacDonald writes. “The injuries to [the man] in this case, while extremely unfortunate, were not injuries that [the officer] could reasonably have foreseen when he activated his [taser]. Whether or not [the man’s] apprehension was handled in the best possible way, it cannot be said that [officer’s] use of force was excessive or unreasonable in the totality of the circumstances.”

IIO says they recorded statements from two civilians, four first responders, and eight witness police officers. They also say they had video and audio recordings from police vehicle dashcam.

MacDonald says the file will be referred to the RCMP for a professional standards review.

The full report can be viewed online.