Officer cleared in Kenora shooting incident

The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared the Ontario Provincial Police officer who shot Grassy Narrows band member Helen Proulx in Kenora.
Ian Scott, director of the SIU, concluded there were no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offence in the June 7 incident which saw Proulx, 39, shot twice. Neither Proulx nor the officer provided statements to the SIU.
Based on the evidence of four civilian witnesses, who provided largely consistent statements, Scott concluded the evening of the shooting unfolded as follows.
Proulx was in downtown Kenora in the evening. She was in a despondent emotional state, appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and was attempting to cut her wrists with a knife. She yelled out at one point she was going to kill herself, according to a press release from the SIU.
An officer arrived at the scene, parked her cruiser and approached Proulx as she attempted to stab herself in the stomach.
The officer unsuccessfully attempted to take the knife away from Proulx.
Walking toward the officer, Proulx pointed the blade in the direction of the officer, who then drew her handgun and began walking backward, shouting repeatedly at Proulx to drop the weapon. Proulx did not comply with the commands and continued to walk in the direction of the officer with the knife in the same position. At one point, the officer stumbled as she was backing up.
When Proulx was three to four feet away from the officer, the officer discharged two rounds of her handgun into Proulx’s torso causing the woman to fall to the ground.
“I am of the view that the subject officer was acting lawfully in approaching the complainant and attempting to disarm her,” Scott said.
“Once Proulx began approaching the officer in a menacing manner with the knife at close quarters and refusing to comply with the officer’s demand to drop the weapon, the officer was justified in using potentially lethal force … because she believed on reasonable grounds that she could not otherwise preserve herself from grievous bodily harm. The subject officer’s vulnerability was exacerbated by the fact that she lost her balance at a critical moment as she was backing up.”