Niagara cop shot several times in dispute with fellow officer
Victim critical but stable after altercation at scene investigating car accident
PELHAM, ONT.— A Niagara Regional Police officer is in critical but stable condition after being shot several times by a fellow officer during an altercation between them at an accident scene in southwestern Ontario Thursday.
Const. Nathan Parker, 52, was airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital after the shooting in Pelham, Ont., in the area between Sulphur Spring Dr. and Effingham St., north of the town of Fonthill, where police were doing a follow-up investigation of a Nov. 12 impaired driving collision.
Multiple police sources said the other officer involved is an officer with the traffic collision reconstruction unit. Police sources did not know the nature of the argument, but said Parker may have been shot five or more times.
The shooting is being investi- gated by the provincial Special Investigations Unit, which investigates all incidents of serious injury or death involving police in Ontario. The SIU were called to the Effingham St. area sometime after 12:18 p.m., when Niagara EMS paramedics responded to a call of an officer injured. SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon told reporters at the scene that the agency had assigned eight SIU investigators and three forensic investigators to the case.
Officers from the traffic reconstruction unit were in the area to collect mapping information related to the impaired driving case, and had closed the road down at about 10 a.m. At 3:55 p.m., the SIU tweeted an NRP officer had been shot by another cop.
“The SIU can confirm it is investigating an interaction between two Niagara Regional Police Service officers, and the gunshot wound sustained by one of the officers,” said the tweet.
That officer, later identified as Parker by police sources, was transported to a local hospital as he had sustained critical in- juries. Then he was transported to Hamilton General Hospital, the province’s air ambulance service said.
Niagara regional police said in a statement Thursday evening that the officer was in stable condition. The officer has 28 years of service and his name “is not being released at this time,” the force said.
“In the spirit of transparency, I have asked the Ontario Provincial Police to determine if there is any criminal culpability outside of the SIU’s scope,” Niagara regional police Chief Bryan MacCulloch said in the statement. “The days and weeks ahead will be trying ones for the NRPS family and the community we serve.”
Parker has a long and troubled history with the NRP, having faced at least four disciplinary hearings, three of which involved violence.
The two officers were in the area as part of an impaired driving collision investigation. The earlier collision occurred on Nov. 12 at about 11 p.m. The investigation determined a man was operating a 2016 Ford Focus when he lost control, entered a ditch and struck a tree.