IIO Releases Jurisdiction in Summerland Case (2016-135)

Case: 2016-135 Incident Date: July 2, 2016 Agency: RCMP Location: Summerland Detachment: Summerland Incident Classification: Serious Harm Case Status: Closed - Without Public Report

Media Release
Independent Investigations Office
For Immediate Release

Surrey – The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. has released jurisdiction in an officer involved shooting in Summerland.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Saturday July 2, 2016 when an officer attempted to pull over a vehicle at Rosedale Road and Prairie Valley Road. Police report that the vehicle headed into a dead-end street at Giant’s Head Mountain parkway where an interaction occurred between a police officer and the vehicle, and the officer fired shots. The vehicle left the area and the police officer was uninjured.

Several hours later a male attended the local hospital suffering from a gunshot wound.

The IIO has released jurisdiction in this case as the injuries suffered by the affected person do not meet the criteria of serious harm.

The Police Act does not give the IIO the mandate to investigate incidents involving the use of deadly force by police where there is no death or serious harm, therefore, the IIO has now released jurisdiction of this incident to the RCMP.

Marten Youssef
Acting Director, Public Engagement & Policy
Marten.Youssef@iiobc.ca

Aidan Buckley
Communications & Stakeholder Relations Liaison
Aidan.Buckley@iiobc.ca

 

Background

    • The IIO is an independent civilian oversight agency of the police in British Columbia. It investigates all officer related incidents that result in serious harm or death.
    • In the initial stages of an investigation, the IIO must determine if there is a connection between the serious harm or death and the actions or inactions of police. If there is a connection then the IIO will continue to investigate.
    • If there is no connection between police action or inaction and the serious harm or death then the IIO will release jurisdiction.
    • When the IIO proceeds with an investigation, these investigations end in one of two ways:
      • If the Chief Civilian Director (CCD) of the IIO concludes that an officer may have committed any offence then the CCD will refer this case to Crown counsel for consideration of charges. The IIO does not lay charges.
      • If the CCD concludes that no officer may have committed any offence then a public report will be released on the IIO’s website at www.iiobc.ca. These public reports give an in-depth look at the case and explain the CCD’s rationale for not referring the case to Crown counsel.
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