The widow of Steve Mesic, a man shot and killed by police two years ago, is suing Hamilton Police Service for more than $1 million in damages, claiming the officers acted "carelessly, recklessly and with wanton disregard."

Hamilton Police say the force will "vigorously defend the actions of its officers in the civil proceedings."

Statement of Claim

The statement of claim contains allegations that have not been proven in court.

The officers, Constables Kevin Farrell and Michael McClellan, were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by the Special Investigations Unit in the police shooting of the former steelworker.

Mesic was shot outside of his home on June 7, 2013 in an encounter with police, shortly after he walked out of a voluntary mental health program at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

The civil suit, filed in March, is seeking $1-million in damages, as well as $150,000 in punitive damages for both Sharon Dorr, Mesic's common law wife, and Domenik Mesic, Steve Mesic's son who was born three months after his death. Dorr declined to comment about the lawsuit. No statement of defence has yet been filed.

Suit claims reckless actions by police

"In the act of discharging their guns, P.C. Farrell and/or P.C. McLellan acted carelessly, recklessly and with wanton disregard for the well-being of Mr. Mesic," reads the statement of claim, filed as part of the civil suit.

"All of the plaintiffs have lost their guidance, care and companionship of a close family member," continued the statement of claim. "Sharon Dorr arrived at the scene of the death of Mr. Mesic after the shooting and was confronted by police. She witnessed the aftermath of the shooting scene and will live with the effects of that for the rest of her life."

In Dorr's suit, she cites bullets found in Mesic's back, claiming those shots to be careless.

Fatal 41 seconds still unclear

Mesic was killed by police outside his home in a standoff with police. Some of the details of what happened were in dispute at a 2014 inquest into the death.

At the inquest, Mesic was said to have walked out of a mental health ward at St. Joseph's, although nurses still had him checked in on the ward long after he left.

He walked out in front of an HSR bus coming down the Jolly Cut with his arms up and his eyes closed. The bus knocked him down, but Mesic got up and walked to his home near the Lincoln Alexander Parkway near Upper Wentworth.

Motorists called in the highway walker, and police responded to the scene. Police caught up with Mesic at the side of his home near the highway, and there is a fatal 41 second gap between radio calls by the responding officers from when they first reported they were involved in a gun-point arrest and saying there had been shots fired.

In the inquest, the officers described how Mesic was advancing at them in a "baseball stance" with a shovel, that they felt they were in danger and that they were on uneven footing at the grown-over hill between the Mesic home and the highway.

The inquest heard that after he did not respond to their shouts, police fired five shots into his chest, and one in his back, and that Mesic walked 30 feet with those bullets in him and a shovel in hand before he collapsed and died. Other bullets fired were not recovered.

There was conflicting testimony at the inquest between civilian witnesses and police accounts on how far away Mesic was and whether Mesic yelled back to the police commands.

The inquest jury was unable to conclude whether Mesic committed suicide by his actions, or that he was a victim of homicide. It called the means of his death "undetermined."

Criminal past for constable in spotlight

The lawsuit also claims Hamilton Police Chief Glenn De Caire, "knew that P.C. Farrell had been convicted of a criminal offense and /or knew of his pre-disposition for wrongful conduct."

Metro News reported that Farrell's was charged in an off-duty incident from 2010. The report says he was originally charged with assault, threatening death and impaired driving. The first two charges were dropped and Farrell pled guilty to impaired driving and two Police Act misconduct charges.

When asked about the civil suit, Hamilton Police spokesperson Catherine Martin said, "The allegations in the Statement of Claim are unproven. The Hamilton Police Service will vigorously defend the actions of its officers in the civil proceedings."