WPS officers involved in fatal 2024 shooting outside city won’t face charges, IIU says

Manitoba’s police oversight agency says Winnipeg police officers who shot at a stolen truck as it was ramming their SUV, killing a passenger in the vehicle, won’t be charged.

On Monday, Independent Investigation Unit director Bruce Sychuk released his report on the June 5, 2024 shooting that killed 30-year-old Tristan Mariash.

He sent the agency’s investigation to Crown prosecutors, who did not support charges against the officer who killed the man, nor against the other officer, who also fired his gun but did not strike him.

The shooting occurred during a chaotic crime spree committed by David Frank Burling, who’s in his early 30s, across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Burling was sentenced last year to about 6 1/2 years in prison for the crime spree and earlier, unrelated offences.

“After an extended police pursuit of a stolen truck, it ended in mere seconds, resulting in (Mariash’s) death,” wrote Sychuk.

“Given that the Manitoba Prosecution Service’s opinion is that the standard for prosecuting charges has not been met, the civilian director will not be authorizing charges.”

Shortly after midnight June 5, RCMP notified the Winnipeg Police Service a stolen black Ford F-350 pickup truck driven by Burling was headed toward the city.

Police information indicated the people inside the truck may have been armed with a shotgun — though no weapon was ever found — while the vehicle had already been involved in pursuits outside the city.

City officers followed the stolen vehicle to a parking lot south of the city at Providence University College and Theological Seminary in Otterburne.

Burling suddenly accelerated directly at their SUV and the two officers opened fire through their windshield, with one of the officers striking Mariash in the abdomen and the back of the head.

The officer whose bullets struck Mariash got out of the police cruiser and continued firing as Burling backed up the stolen truck, which a use-of-force expert retained by the IIU “expressed some concerns” over, as other options could have been considered at the time, Sychuk wrote.

The expert took no issue with the initial shooting, given Burling was driving directly at the officers.

Crown prosecutors who reviewed the evidence found there was a reasonable doubt as to whether the officers’ use of force was excessive. The prosecutors said they were not satisfied there was a reasonable likelihood the officers would be convicted, if charged.

Burling then drove to a gas station in Niverville, where he abandoned the truck and his deceased friend, jumping into a woman’s waiting vehicle before speeding away, while another passenger who had been in the truck was arrested hiding near the gas station.

Burling was later arrested in Saskatchewan after a manhunt. He pleaded guilty to assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, fleeing from police and driving while prohibited for the southern Manitoba incident, before he was sentenced in provincial court in July last year.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca