No charges laid in fatal Clarendon police shooting, BEI closes case
No charges laid in fatal Clarendon police shooting, BEI closes case
Following the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions’ (DPCP) recent decision to not press charges against a Sûreté du Québec officer who fatally shot a man in Clarendon on June 5, 2023, Quebec’s police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) has closed its investigation into the case. The victim, Christopher Watson, was 39 years-old at the time of his death.
The report that the BEI submitted to the DPCP in April of this year included interviews with five civilian witnesses and the two officers involved, recordings of the 911 call and the SQ radio transmissions, as well as various forensics reports.
CHIP 101.9 reached out to the DPCP, the BEI and Watson’s family, but all declined to comment. The statement notes that the prosecutor met with Watson’s family to inform them of their rationale. The DPCP’s decision contains the most detailed account (translated and paraphrased below) of the incident that has been made public thus far:
At around 10:57 a.m., police received a 911 call from a woman that a man living at her home had been violent and aggressive with her and her partner. Two officers arrived at the property at 11:17 a.m. and were informed that Watson was in a shed in the backyard. They were also told by the homeowners that he was not in possession of a firearm.
The officers and the couple approached the shed. One officer saw Watson inside, identified himself as a police officer, and asked him to come out to talk. When the officer was about four meters from the shed, Watson opened the door and pointed a long gun at him. The officer fired several times and Watson fell back into the shed and the door closed. The officers ordered the couple back into their home and barricaded themselves behind their vehicles on the property.
At 11:43 a.m. an intervention team was deployed and an operation to enter the shed commenced. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact Watson, a drone was used to enter the shed where he was found shot and lying on his back. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
Though the prosecutor’s statement doesn’t specify the time, the BEI report states that Watson’s body was identified at 2:18 p.m., roughly 2.5 hours after the initial operation was launched. The BEI statement also notes that they were contacted at 1:43 p.m. and their investigators arrived on scene at 9:50 p.m. that evening.
The DPCP’s decision states that under Section 25 (1) and 25 (3) of the criminal code, the conditions for police use of force were met, and deemed the officer acted reasonably in order to protect themselves and others present at the scene.
“Indeed, police officers are often placed in situations where they must quickly make difficult decisions,” the statement reads (translated). “In this context, they cannot be expected to measure the degree of force applied precisely.”
The BEI notes that five investigators were assigned to the case, with assistance from the Montreal Police, who also conducted a parallel investigation into the circumstances that led up to the shooting. The BEI investigates any time someone is killed or seriously injured in the course of a police intervention, or in police custody.
