London police leadership is finally speaking publicly about the death of Justin Bourassa.
More than a year after the Sarnia tennis pro was shot by a police officer in an alley off of Richmond Row, and nearly six months after an SIU report cleared the officer of criminal wrongdoing, a London Police internal report says the officers involved in incident “adhered to LPS Procedures and that of section 11(3) of Ontario Regulation 267/10 of the Police Services Act, by cooperating fully with the investigation.”
On Monday, Deputy Chief Trish McIntyre and Chair Susan Toth addressed the findings at a London Police Services Board meeting, with McIntyre saying the two officers that night acted with “true excellence” in the moments leading up to Bourassa’s death.
“I used the word excellence and I mean, in the mean in the moment, at the time, when everything is evolving so quickly, that [the two officers] were able to remain calm, and follow process,” McIntyre said after the meeting. “That was what I meant by excellence.”
Bourassa was killed on October 28, 2021 after a confrontation with two police officers in an alley just off of Richmond Row.
According to the report, Bourassa was seen on video surveillance entering the alley at 3:49:20 a.m., and a police vehicle followed at 3:49:36 a.m.
However, there was no video surveillance that could capture what would happen in the alley after the officer’s vehicle entered.
In the report, the witness officer said he and another officer asked Bourassa to stop in the alley, because he was under suspicion of being involved in a break and enter. He was asked to turn to the west and away from officers so he could be handcuffed. The report then says Bourassa struggled free from the control of one officer and tried to run, but was eventually tackled.
Then, Bourassa and one officer landed on the other London police member. One officer then dropped their microphone and tried to radio for help and couldn’t get through to colleagues due to too much interference. Then, Bourassa allegedly used a “rear naked chokehold” on that officer and after the officer was choked for 45 seconds to one minute, Bourassa was shot in the neck by the other officer. The officer who fired the shot radioed for an ambulance at 3:51:01 a.m.
“A comprehensive, thorough review was done and I’m satisfied with the outcome,” McIntyre said when asked about that tight timeline. “We need to hit pause here because there’s still a coroner’s inquest. Those details will all come in. What we know for sure is that it was a rapid escalation.”
The officer who was allegedly choked, did not have any bruises or markings on his neck, according to the SIU report.
SIU Director Joseph Marino had also said there was no evidence that a taser, baton or physical force had been used on Bourassa before he was shot.
“That’s not for me to speak to, the officer in the moment at the time has to asses what going on in front of him and has to respond accordingly,” McIntyre said on the subject of other force options that may have been forgone by the officer who shot Bourassa.
“We know the lethal force when it’s life threatening or death is imminent. The officer’s perception in the moment, at the time, said that was what was about to unfold,” McIntyre said.
Bourassa was unarmed at the time of the shooting and there were no drugs or alcohol in his system. Police have confirmed that he was not involved in the break and enter officers were investigating, and it’s unclear whether a break and enter had actually occurred that morning.
The officer who shot Bourassa did not speak to SIU investigators, which he is not legally required to do. He did speak to the investigators for the London police internal review.
The SIU report said that the officers wanting to put Bourassa in handcuffs “might have been an overreach on the part of the officers.”
McIntyre rejected that statement.
“I would have argued they had grounds to arrest. We can search the individual for weapons,” she said. “Whenever there is a concern for safety, the officer have available to them, of course, the handcuffing piece.”
There were few questions about the internal report at the London Police Services Board meeting.
“There’s never good news in a story like this, it’s just difficult for everyone involved,” Toth said. “It’s not something that I think any police officer enters the police force ever expecting or ever hoping something will happen to them.”
She declined comment on the specifics of the report, saying that it’s a police operations matter.
Bourassa leaves behind his parents and three sisters.
