Man who bit victim’s genitals before police killed him acted like ‘a demon’

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This article was published 21/05/2021 (1604 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province’s police watchdog has recommended no charges be laid against a Winnipeg police officer who fatally shot a man believed to be high on magic mushrooms when he wouldn’t stop stabbing a man in front of a Charleswood home.

The final report of the March 10, 2020, incident released Friday states police officers tried to stop the attack by repeatedly used Tasers on the 27-year-old man and trying to pull him off. When the attack continued and it looked like the victim could die, an officer shot the attacker in the back from less than two metres away.

The attacker, who is not named in the report, was rushed to Health Sciences Centre, where he died of his injuries.

“It is my view that the use of lethal force by the subject officer was justified as it was based on reasonable grounds and necessary to save (the victim’s) life,” civilian director Zane Tessler concluded in the 12-page report.

The entire incident was captured by a home’s security video, which “materially corroborated the evidence of all the witnesses,” Tessler noted.

“In conclusion, there are no grounds to justify any charges against the subject officer,” he wrote.

Police were called to the house in the 100 block of Kowalsky Crescent after getting a call at 4:47 a.m., that a man was attacking another man with a weapon.

When officers arrived, they found a man was attacking a defenceless male with a knife on the street, and both men were covered in blood.

The officers deployed “multiple” tasers at the man and tried pulling him off by grabbing his shoulders and hair and kicking him, but the attack continued until the officer concluded she had to shoot him or the victim would die.

The officer who shot the man — who provided the IIU with a written statement and her notes — said the victim “appeared to be severely injured and covered in blood.

“(He) appeared to be severely injured and incapable of defending himself as he pleaded for help,” and, with all other use of force options unsuccessful and fearing for the victim’s life, she warned him one last time “just stop and you won’t be hurt” before firing once when he continued the attack.

The IIU report said the incident began when a male and female resident of the house woke up at about 4:30 a.m., to see a man who had been living there for a week standing beside them holding a knife. The male resident was able to take the knife away from the man during a struggle. The attacker left and returned, armed with scissors. The attacker started stabbing the man and biting him on his genitals and elsewhere, the report states.

During the attack, the man yelled at his partner to call 911, to which the attacker said “No… don’t call 911.” The man was able to get away, but when he heard the attacker attacking the woman, he returned, and the two managed to get the scissors away from the attacker.

When the attacker again armed himself with a knife, the male victim ran out the door and onto the driveway, but the attacker tackled him and started stabbing him, including in the eye, before police arrived.

The male victim was treated for several stab wounds, and bite injuries to his neck, face and other parts of his body. He suffered permanent loss of vision to his right eye. The woman suffered cuts to her hand, large gashes behind her right ear and a large cut across her forehead.

The male victim later told IIU investigators the attacker was normally a loving and caring individual, but he would become “a monster” when he ingested large quantities of magic mushrooms. He believed the attacker was high on the drug and also suffered from undiagnosed schizophrenia.

The victim said the attacker was more like “a demon and not the person he knew… it was like the demon attacking him appeared to be enjoying himself… and wanted to kill him.”

An autopsy found the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the lower back torso.

A toxicology report found no drugs, alcohol or other substances, but the RCMP’s national laboratory does not have a way of confirming whether psilocin, known as magic mushrooms, was in the man’s system.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca