OPP officer cleared in fatal shooting at detachment
Family of mentally ill man hopes inquest can help reveal how incident escalated
The Ontario Special Investigations Unit has determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against an OPP officer who shot and killed Babak Saidi in the Morrisburg detachment on Dec. 23, 2017.
SIU director Tony Loparco’s report, dated Jan. 11, was released Tuesday afternoon.
Saidi, 43, was shot dead after reporting for his required weekly check-in after a 2014 conviction for assault and battery.
Reached by phone late on Friday afternoon in Ottawa, Elly Saidi, Babak’s older sister, told the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder she was “quite disappointed (with the report); it took the SIU 14 months to come to this decision, and in the end basing the decision on the testimony given to them by the officer seven months after the shooting, in July.”
Asked what the family will do next, Elly Saidi said it’s hoping that an inquest into the shooting will be held.
“I’m really hoping we can learn from this,” she said. “We need the police to be better trained at de-escalating a situation. In a span of seven seconds, my brother was shot five times, three (of the shots) in the back.”
Elly Saidi said she hopes an inquest would lead to police officers being better able to deal with people who have mental health issues.
In the report, Loparco goes through details of what led up to the barely two-minute altercation that resulted in Babak Saidi’s death.
Saidi, whose family said he suffered from schizophrenia, was on a court-ordered condition at the time to sign in at the Morrisburg detachment every week. On Dec. 23, he was dropped off by his father and picked up the direct-line telephone at the detachment to contact the OPP communications centre and advise it he was present to sign in.
What had not publicly been released until Tuesday was that the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry OPP officers had decided to arrest Saidi at the station that Saturday due to a complaint filed on Dec. 20, in which a saleswoman alleged Saidi had threatened and drawn a knife on her and held it against her throat.
The report says when the two officers who responded to the Morrisburg detachment for his signin informed Saidi he was being charged, he turned to leave. The subject officer attempted to stop him and the two men fell through the outdoor doors.
The SIU report said that during the ensuing scuffle, according to forensic and video evidence, along with witness statements, Saidi bit the officer on his arm. The officer struck Saidi’s head to get him to release, and Saidi struck the officer’s head with an object believed to be his radio. The officer then shot his Taser at Saidi with no effect and Saidi was able to get the Taser and aim it at the officer.
The officer then drew his gun, which Saidi at one point grabbed, the report said, and the officer fired a number of shots at Saidi, which ultimately killed him.
Loparco found the officer had genuine reason to fear for his death or grievous injury and to use his firearm to prevent and had acted appropriately under the circumstances.
Babak’s younger sister Hoda Pari Poush described her brother as a “very gentle soul with a very kind heart,” who had his good days and bad days.
She said he had mental health problems and was known to police, but she questioned how the situation could have escalated so quickly on Dec. 23, 2017.