SIU clears Toronto police officer for shooting man who was trying to run down cops in van

The provincial Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared a Toronto police officer of any wrongdoing after he shot a man in the hand who had rammed police cars in a stolen van, and attempted to run down cops who were trying to apprehend him.

According to an SIU news release, the incident happened in the early morning hours of Dec. 8, 2019.

That's when a parking enforcement officer saw a stolen van in the area of Sackville Street, and called police.

When officers arrived, the man in the van took off. The officers pursued him to a parking lot behind the YMCA on Vanauley Street.

According to the report, the driver then proceeded to ram police vehicles, and at one point, drove at one of the officers.

It was then that the officer twice shot the van's windshield, with one bullet hitting the driver in the hand, the SIU says.

The man eventually jumped out of the vehicle when trying to get away, and was tackled and arrested. He was later diagnosed with a fracture in his hand, and had surgery to remove a bullet fragment.

SIU Director Joseph Martino said in a statement that "there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the [officer] committed a criminal offence."