SIU probes Caledon incident after OPP officer seriously injured, 2nd officer fired gun

Canuck October 23, 2023 News/Canada/Toronto

Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating an incident in Caledon early Monday in which one provincial police officer was seriously injured and another officer is believed to have fired his gun three times.

In a news release, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said the incident happened on Tundra Road. The Caledon Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were called to the area for reports of a suspicious vehicle, a Jeep Wrangler, parked on a residential street at about 7:20 a.m.

Kristy Denette, spokesperson for the SIU, said police responded and laid down a spike belt on the roadway in front of the Jeep Wrangler. She said it appears that the vehicle ran over the spike belt while attempting to flee. While fleeing, the driver struck an OPP officer, she said.

Denette said said the officer was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Another OPP officer who was on the scene discharged his pistol around the same time that the officer was struck, she added. She said the SIU believes the officer fired at the vehicle speeding away.

“We believe three times,” she said. “It’s not believed that anyone was struck. However, we have forensic investigators looking into that. It appears that one of the bullets entered a windshield of a vehicle parked behind me, into a civilian vehicle through the windshield, and then a second one entered the vehicle that took off.”

In the release, the SIU said the Jeep Wrangler and a nearby vehicle were hit.

Denette said the Jeep Wrangler was abandoned about four kilometres away in Brampton. The occupants of the vehicle, believed to be at least two, ran from the scene and have not been located.

According to Denette, the SIU investigation is focused on the discharge of the firearm by police. It will be looking at video that has been made available.

The OPP, for its part, is conducting its own criminal investigation into the incident itself and suspects at large. Anyone with information is urged to call the OPP.

Meanwhile, the SIU has assigned three investigators and two forensic investigators to the case.

The SIU, an independent government agency, investigates the conduct of police that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault, or the discharge of a firearm at a person.