Officer cleared in downtown shooting
Man, now paralyzed, who struck cop admits he should have surrendered
Alberta’s police watchdog says it’s “terrible” that Morgan Thompson was shot and paralyzed by a Calgary police officer in an incident that started out with spitting on the sidewalk, but said the 31-year-old ultimately is at fault.
Thompson escalated the situation on March 21, 2015, and the officer who shot him with two bullets was justified, said Susan Hughson, executive director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.
ASIRT on Thursday released the findings of its investigation into what happened that day 20 months ago which left Thompson confined to a wheelchair.
Thompson, 30 years old at the time, was shot during a confrontation with a police officer in the alley behind the Palomino Smokehouse in downtown Calgary after allegedly disrupting a peace rally at city hall by yelling “white power” at those gathered, giving them the middle finger, then spitting on the sidewalk.
He’s alleged to have walked away from police trying to identify him and then evaded an officer who pursued him and caught up with him in an alley.
“It appears that the officer was speaking to (Thompson) when (Thompson) used his right arm and punched the officer on the left side of his head,” Hughson said.
“The officer drew his police baton and struck (Thompson) on the left wrist area.
“(Thompson) reached with his right hand behind his back ... and produced a long silver object that looked like a pipe.
“The officer dropped his baton and drew his service pistol. The man raised the weapon up, above his head in a threatening manner. At that point, the officer discharged his police service weapon at the same time as the man threw the weapon at the officer. The pipe-like object struck the officer in the leg.”
Four bullets were fired and two hit Thompson — one of them piercing his lung, then lodging in his spine.
Tuesday afternoon, Thompson told Global News he wasn’t surprised by ASIRT’s decision.
“He felt threatened — we both felt threatened — and I should’ve just surrendered peacefully, but that’s not how I do things,” he said.
“He had a better weapon than me, so here I am.”
The incident was captured on video by business surveillance cameras covering the alley.
ASIRT says it isn’t releasing the footage.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s terrible that a person has been paralyzed as the result of an incident that started out as spitting on the sidewalk,” Hughson said, before adding, again, that police had acted within reason.
Later Thursday, the Calgary Police Service also offered a statement.
“An internal administrative review of this incident will take place, as is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings,” it read.
“At this time there is no evidence to indicate any breaches of policy or procedure by the member involved and he is not facing any internal discipline.
“The man involved in this incident will not be charged. In consultation with the Crown, it has been deemed not to be in the public’s interest.”