Ontario's police watchdog says there are no grounds to lay criminal charges against the Waterloo Regional Police Service officer who shot 39-year-old Maurice Rivard during a traffic stop in Kitchener in 2017.
The officer, who has remained unnamed throughout the investigation, made the traffic stop in the area of Ottawa Street South and Lilac Street on March 2 at around 12:30 a.m.
An Ontario Special Investigations Unit report said Rivard had been drinking before he got behind the wheel. He was allegedly "driving all over the road" and had run a red light.
Series of events
The SIU report said after he was pulled over, Rivard got out of his Pontiac and approached the police cruiser, "arguing with the [officer] about the reason for the stop."
I find that the [officer] was dealing with a very angry, combative, irrational and intoxicated male.- Tony Loparco, SIU Director
He then allegedly grabbed the officer's vest and tried to hoist him out of the cruiser, at which point the officer shot him with his stun gun.
The report said that while the two men were struggling, the current from the stun gun also injured the officer, causing him to drop the weapon.
Rivard picked it up and pointed the stun gun at the officer as he got out of the cruiser, according to the SIU.
Rivard showed <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCKW891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBCKW891</a> his scars from being shot by police. <a href="https://t.co/dSvrF9r9oc">pic.twitter.com/dSvrF9r9oc</a>
—@FloraTPanNo criminal charges
He was rushed to St. Mary's hospital in Kitchener, where he underwent emergency surgery.
After Rivard was shot, police called the SIU to investigate the actions of their officer.
The SIU investigates incidents between police and civilians that result in serious injury, including death.
On Friday, Tony Loparco, director of the SIU, said in a press release that there were "no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges" against the officer who shot Maurice Rivard, based on the agency's investigation.
'Combative, irrational and intoxicated'
"On the evidence before me, I find that the [officer] was dealing with a very angry, combative, irrational and intoxicated male who had already tried to physically pull the [officer] out of his cruiser, had disarmed him of his less lethal use of force option, pointed it at him, and had forced him to take cover behind his cruiser," Loparco had written earlier, in the January report.
"On this record, I find that the [officer's] resort to the use of his firearm was justified in these circumstances and that I have no reasonable grounds to believe that the [officer] committed any criminal offence and no charges will issue."
In his decision, Loparco said it was reasonable for the officer to believe that his life was in danger when Rivard took the stun gun.
If Rivard did use the stun gun, Loparco reasoned it would have "incapacitated" the officer, leaving him in a vulnerable position and putting him at risk of losing his other firearm.
Charges against Rivard
While the SIU investigation is now over, the criminal case against Rivard continues.
Shortly after his surgery, the Cambridge-man made a court appearance by phone from his hospital bed and was charged with trying to disarm a police officer.
Five months later he was back in court, facing new charges: two counts of disarming a police officer, assaulting a peace officer, threatening with a weapon, impaired operation of a vehicle, operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of more than 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood and driving while under the influence.