Warning: This story discusses acts of self harm which may be triggering to some readers.
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Penticton RCMP have been cleared of any wrongdoing following an incident where a man lost his eye during an altercation with police in August 2024.
According to the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO), the man involved in the incident left his home on Aug. 12, 2024, with the intention of getting police to shoot him.
The man went to the park by the beach and called 911. He claimed he was being chased by a person he had seen stab someone else, and then disconnected.
Officers arrived at the park and discovered the man in the washrooms.
In an interview with the IIO, the man said he had his hand against a pillar and put a knife against his wrist.
鈥淗is intention had been to cut his own wrist and then run at the police, hoping they would shoot him,鈥� stated the IIO.
Based on the 911 calls the officers on the scene believed the man had a knife and so decided that a conducted energy weapon, colloquially referred to as a Taser, would not be a safe force option to use. The officer believed if the taser were not effective he would not have time to draw his gun before being injured by the man with the knife.
The IIO investigation stated that the officers tried to calm the man and offer help but instead, the man told the police he would run at them if they came closer.
The officers called for backup as the situation was developing and people who had begun their early morning walks in the park needed to be redirected.
Another officer who had been at the man鈥檚 house, heard the radio call for backup and headed to the park.
There he loaded a projectile into a 40 mm launcher - considered less lethal than a Taser.
The officer approached the man in the washroom of the park with the launcher and fired a round at him from about 20 metres away. He then fired again from 12 meters away.
The first projectile struck the man in the face, who threw up his hands and dropped the knife on his feet, three to five feet from him. RCMP told the IIO that the officer probably fired the second round because he could not see where the knife was.
Officers then were witnessed hitting the man as they put him into handcuffs. However, the witness said the punches were 鈥渘ot that hard鈥�.
The man was found to have extensive fractures to the left orbital area and catastrophic damage to his left eyeball, which later had to be removed.
The IIO concluded that the man put the officers in a difficult situation by saying he would charge at them with a knife. The IIO noted that efforts to de-escalate and negotiate, while appropriate, were unsuccessful.
As a result, the IIO found that the safest and most effective use of force available to the officer was the 40 mm projectile launcher, which has a longer effective range than a Taser.
The officer also gave verbal warnings before firing to let the man know what would happen if he didn鈥檛 comply and drop the knife.
According to the IIO's report, the projectile striking the man's face was considered to have occurred due to either the manner in which the 40 mm launcher had been sighted, a malfunction of the weapon, the man suddenly ducking, or simply poor aim by the officer.
The IIO found no evidence that the officer intentionally aimed the 40 mm projectile launcher at the man鈥檚 head rather than his body.
The matter will not be referred to the Crown Council for charges.
