MISSISSAUGA, ONT.—Ontario’s police watchdog says there will be no charges against an officer who inadvertently shot a 78-year-old man while putting down a deer.

The Special Investigations Unit says officers responding to a report of an injured deer on a street in Thornhill, Ont., found three men had moved the incapacitated animal off the road.

The trio was asked to move away after the officers decided the deer had to be put down and they used their vehicles to block traffic.

An officer fired a shotgun but the slug shell passed through the deer, bounced off the sidewalk, and lodged between the man’s scalp and skull above his ear.

Police applied first aid until paramedics arrived and took him to hospital, where the slug was removed.

Acting SIU director Joseph Martino says the officer was “less than careful” but his actions did not warrant charges.

“The very fact that someone was struck by a bullet suggests the officer was less than careful,” Martino said Friday in a statement.

The officer saw the three men moving away and believed they were going behind a concrete retaining wall under the bridge and out of harm’s way when he fired, Martino said.

“The officer was wrong ... the 78-year-old man was not there yet.”

The officer did give some thought to the ammunition he would use and chose a slug shell instead of buckshot because it would limit the risk of stray projectiles, Martino said.

“It had also been his experience, having previously euthanized deer and coyotes, that a projectile from a slug discharge would stay inside an animal’s body.”

The SIU investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: