An RCMP officer who shot his handgun toward a suspect during a 2020 incident in Porter Creek did not use unnecessary force, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has found.

Findings concluded that the officer believed on “reasonable grounds” his life and the life of another officer were in danger as they responded to a report that the suspect was armed with a rifle.

According to a description of events in the Response Team’s report, the incident occurred on March 2, 2020, when police responded to a call by a man saying his daughter’s ex-husband was banging on his door and had a rifle in hand.

At 11:54 that morning, multiple Whitehorse RCMP officers were dispatched to the scene.

The first officer to arrive found the man with the rifle sitting in his truck and yelled, “Sir, show me your hands!”

According to reports by the officers involved – that have also been confirmed by dash cam footage – the suspect kept raising and lowering his hands, disobeying commands from police.

After about 27 seconds, a second officer who had just arrived on scene fired a single shot, which struck the truck at the top of the driver’s side door.

William Henderson Smith, 54 at the time, was arrested by police that day.

On Jan. 25, 2022, he pleaded guilty to possessing a .44-calibre lever-action rifle without a licence and to carrying the weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, according to court documents.

He was also charged with allegedly using a firearm in a careless manner and with refusing to provide breath samples, but had those charges stayed.

His sentence included $400 in surcharges and a nine-month conditional sentence in which he was to be confined to his house except for work or when given prior written authorization.

The rifle was also to be forfeited, along with 19 rounds of ammunition found in his truck.

After firing the shot, officers told the man to exit the vehicle and walk slowly toward them. He continued to raise and lower his hands and was warned by officers each time.

Eventually, officers instructed him to lay on the ground and told him he was under arrest for the careless use of a firearm.

Inside the truck’s cab was a lever-action rifle with a bullet in the chamber and additional bullets. This had been within arm’s reach of the suspect.

According to a written statement by the officer who fired toward the truck, he said he thought the suspect was not complying nor taking the police presence seriously.

“He believed that the (suspect) still had the rifle and was possibly planning some type of resistance involving the firearm,” reads the report. “His assessment was that the risk was extremely high.”

The report goes on to say the officer saw the suspect looking over at the passenger seat, where the officers thought he may have put the rifle.

“The (officer) believed he was going to use the rifle against one or both of him or the (other officer), and feared for their lives,” the report continues.

“He discharged his firearm once to stop the threat.”

The suspect’s version of events differed, with him claiming to have been outside the truck shovelling snow when the officers arrived. The officer’s version is backed up by dashcam footage, however.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is brought in by the Yukon government to investigate incidents involving the discharge of officers’ firearms, incidents involving the police in which someone is injured or killed, and allegations of police misconduct.

In this case, the Response Team sought to establish whether the officer was covered under Section 25 of the Criminal Code, which allows an officer to use as much force as necessary to carry out their duties.

“Where this force is intended or is likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm, the officer must believe on reasonable grounds that the force is necessary for the self-preservation of the officer or preservation of anyone under that officer’s protection,” reads the Response Team report.

“All uses of force by police must also be proportionate, necessary and reasonable.”

In this case, the report concludes the officers reasonably believed the rifle was in the truck because they were called to the scene because of a report of a man with a rifle at that residence.

It also concludes officers had reason to believe the man might use the rifle on them, considering the way he was acting.

The only thing the report said could be done better, would be the officers could have waited for more police to arrive before approaching the man, and could have done so at more of a distance to lessen the risk to themselves.

But in the end, the report says the use of force in this situation was authorized or required by law, that it was reasonable and that no offence was committed by the officers.