B.C. police oversight finds no wrongdoing in Granville Bridge killing

The province’s police oversight body has found Vancouver police officers acted accordingly during an altercation that saw officers shoot and kill a man on a bridge in February 2023.

The Independent Investigations Office of BC released its findings on the Feb. 9 killing Monday, concluding that there are “reasonable grounds for the officer to believe lethal force was necessary for the self-preservation of the officer or the preservation of any one under the officer’s protection from death or grievous bodily harm.”

In February, Sgt. Steve Addison said officers were called to the Granville Street Bridge around 6:45 p.m. for reports of a “person acting erratically.”

“When officers arrived, there was an altercation that resulted in the man being shot and killed by police,” Addison wrote at the time.

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Photos and video of the altercation and aftermath were posted to social media sites, as the bridge is flanked by high-rise residential suites. Onlookers reported seeing the interaction between officers and the man.

IIO Chief Civilian Director Ronald MacDonald explains in the report that the evidence in the case “leaves no doubt” that when the officer fired his gun at the victim, there was “an imminent threat” from the suspect to assault the officers.

The IIO’s report explains that it believes the victim was holding a “double-edged knife and a screwdriver when he came towards the officers.”

Witnesses in the area at the time say that the man “appeared to have empty hands,” however, MacDonald refutes this evidence, suggesting “civilian eyewitnesses evidence, in this case, suffers from reliability issues.”

“From a witness saying that the arriving officers were driving unmarked police vehicles with lights and sirens activated, to describing the plainclothes officers as wearing ‘SWAT’ clothing with bullet-proof vests.

“While it is understandable that civilians seeing police officers in confrontation over a period of mere seconds might ‘project’ typical police clothing or equipment onto them in memory, those memory glitches tend to undermine specific memories about whether, for example, a hand of a running man in the dark was empty or gripping the handle of a weapon,” MacDonald explained.

MacDonald says police officers tried to “disable” the victim with a “conducted energy weapon” — a taser — however, due to his loose or thick clothing, it did not work.

“When the CEW did not stop [the victim], who was by now only a very few steps from the two officers, it was justifiable for [the VPD officer] to respond to the threat he posed, … by the use of lethal force.

“I do not consider that there are reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence,” MacDonald concluded.

After the February killing, a small vigil was held just a few days later for the man. The identity of the victim has not been publicly released.