Overnight confrontation between man and police leads to SIU probe in Mississauga
Published June 28, 2024 at 5:04 pm
The province’s Special Investigations Unit is looking into an incident in which police fired an anti-riot weapon at a man in Mississauga’s south end early Friday morning.
The SIU, a civilian agency that investigates incidents in which members of the public are seriously hurt or killed during interactions with police, said in a news release issued Friday afternoon the 38-year-old man who was fired at by a Peel Regional Police officer during the 2 a.m. confrontation near Elmwood Avenue South and Lakeshore Road East wasn’t seriously hurt.
However, the police watchdog is also mandated to investigate any incident in which a weapon, including anti-riot weapons (ARWEN) and Tasers, is discharged by a police officer.
According to the SIU, Peel officers responded to the area near Mississauga’s waterfront after receiving reports that a man was armed with an “edged weapon.”
Once on the scene, officers found the man, contained the area and began negotiating with him, the provincial agency said.
“At some point, an interaction ensued and one officer deployed his ARWEN,” the SIU said in its news release.
The agency didn’t say if the man was struck by a less-lethal round, which is what the anti-riot weapon fires.
The man was apprehended by officers under the Mental Health Act and taken to hospital for assessment.
“While the man did not sustain any serious injury, the SIU’s mandate was invoked because a police officer discharged an ARWEN, which is classified as a firearm,” the SIU said.