Ottawa Citizen

Man plunges 12 storeys as police storm apartment

- SHAAMINI YOGARETNAM

The province's police watchdog is investigat­ing after a 23-yearold man fell to his death from an apartment window during an Ottawa police drug raid in which a controvers­ial tactical entry was used, the Citizen has learned.

The Special Investigat­ions Unit tweeted just before 11 a.m. Wednesday that it was “investigat­ing after a fall from an apartment building today resulted in the death of a 23-year-old man.”

Ottawa police tactical officers entered the apartment using what police sources said was a “dynamic entry” — a controvers­ial police tactic that was lambasted by the courts earlier this year but defended by the police service.

A team of tactical officers entered the Jasmine Crescent apartment on Wednesday morning as part of a drug warrant execution. A subject of that warrant, the 23-year-old man, plunged from the window of the 12th-floor apartment, police sources said.

It's not known how much time elapsed after police entered the apartment before the man died. At the time of the raid, there were

other people inside the apartment, sources said. It's not known if any others were injured.

The watchdog confirmed Wednesday that Ottawa police officers breached the door of the apartment building around 9 a.m. to execute a search warrant. Soon after, the SIU said, the man “fell from the window to the ground below.”

According to the SIU, “medical aid was provided to the man,” before he was pronounced dead on scene.

Ottawa police officers were guarding the scene at the back of the apartment building at 2020 Jasmine Cres. late Wednesday morning. A command post tent had been erected over the man's body, which lay on the grass covered by a yellow tarp.

Directly above the tent was a wall of apartment windows. There are no balconies on that side of the apartment building.

That practice of a “dynamic entry” has been criticized by the courts. In a February judgment, an Ontario Superior Court justice found its use was a “casual disregard” for people's charter rights.

The practice sees masked officers break down a door and sometimes toss in flash grenades, or “distractio­n devices” — which give off loud sounds and smoke to distract and disorient police targets — while their guns are drawn. Police are legally required to knock-and-announce their presence as a general rule. But in a dynamic entry, that doesn't always happen.

In a Feb. 11 ruling, Superior Court Justice Sally Gomery concluded in a different drug-and-gun case that the use of dynamic entry amounts to serious misconduct.

“The knock-and-announce principle has been part of Canadian law for decades. The officers who testified did not say when the Ottawa police decided that dynamic entry should be the rule rather than the exception. However long the practice has been in place, it reflects a casual disregard for charter rights.”

The judge said she believed the police acted in good faith, in that they firmly believed its blanket practice was in the name of officer safety, but warned:

“This does not justify systemic use of dynamic entry to execute all, or almost all, search warrants of private dwellings in Ottawa. The police cannot operate from an assumption that they should break in the door of any residence that they have a warrant to search. The court must be concerned about disassocia­ting itself from this practice.”

In April, in response to a police board inquiry prompted by this newspaper's reporting on that court decision, the service said that it would continue to use the tool and justified doing so.

The police board asked the service how common of a practice it was, how police decide to use it, and whether police would change the practice after the judge's ruling.

Ottawa police said in their official response to the inquiry that “dynamic entries are determined on a case-by-case basis and are not utilized in the execution of all search warrants.”

Police said “they are completed occasional­ly and only when a patrol inspector (incident commander) deems that there is a risk to the public/police or that evidence may be destroyed.”

The service said that “public and officer safety are paramount and are fundamenta­l considerat­ions when executing all search warrants” and that the goal with every warrant is to use the least amount of force possible.

Tactical officers execute warrants on behalf of investigat­ive units that have drafted them and obtained approval from a judge or justice of the peace to execute them.

Part of that plan includes a “risk assessment section,” police said in the inquiry response.

“The operationa­l plan is reviewed by the tactical commander who will consider the type of entry which is the least invasive, taking into considerat­ion officer safety, public safety and the risk of destructio­n of evidence. If the tactical supervisor determines that a less assertive type of entry is not recommende­d (due to risk to officers, the public or the imminent destructio­n of evidence) he/she may recommend a dynamic entry, which consists of a breach of the door to the residence and dynamic entry and the safely securing of all occupants prior to the search of the residence.”

Police said that “distractio­n devices may be considered depending on the level of threat.”

It's not known whether one was used on Wednesday morning.

Officers hold a formal briefing before executing a warrant where they discuss the rationale for a specific type of entry, whether a distractio­n device is used and risk to both the public and police.

“Once the plan is reviewed and approved by the patrol inspector, officers are dispatched to the address to complete their task. The final approval of any operation involving a dynamic entry remains with the patrol inspector.”

Police called the dynamic entry “a crucial component of tactical functions” and said they will continue to use it “when deemed necessary to protect the safety of the public, officers and to prevent the destructio­n of disposable evidence.”

The service said the tactic “will continue to be closely scrutinize­d and will only be considered when all other types of entries have been contemplat­ed.”

The SIU has assigned three investigat­ors and one forensic investigat­or to the case.

Anyone with informatio­n about what happened is asked to call the lead SIU investigat­or at 1-800-7878529. The watchdog also asked anyone with any video evidence to upload it through the SIU's website.

 ?? ERROL MCGIHON ?? Police guard the scene outside 2020 Jasmine Crescent where a man fell to his death from his apartment window during a drug raid
ERROL MCGIHON Police guard the scene outside 2020 Jasmine Crescent where a man fell to his death from his apartment window during a drug raid
 ?? ERROL MCGIHON ?? Police secure the scene at 2020 Jasmine Crescent where a man fell to his death from an apartment window during a drug raid.
ERROL MCGIHON Police secure the scene at 2020 Jasmine Crescent where a man fell to his death from an apartment window during a drug raid.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada