A Mountie on Vancouver Island who shot and seriously injured a 31-year-old man as he was driving a skid-steer loader through a residential neighbourhood will not face criminal charges.
The B.C. Prosecution Service says it decided not to approve charges against the officer after examining all available evidence in the case.
Davin Cochrane was confronted by police while driving the Bobcat construction vehicle through a Duncan, B.C., neighbourhood at around 9:15 p.m. on March 28, 2023.
The machine collided with responding RCMP vehicles in a neighbourhood park before the officer opened fire.
Cochrane was taken to hospital in critical condition and has since been released.
Following the incident, Cochrane’s father told CTV News his son was shot twice in the head. That account was confirmed in a statement from the prosecution service Friday, which said the officer fired five rounds from a C8 rifle as the Bobcat loader approached with its bucket raised.
In addition to the bullet wounds to his head, Cochrane also sustained an injury from a bullet fragment to his left lung and a fractured knee, according to the statement.
The incident was probed by the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., which last year sent a recommendation to prosecutors to consider a weapons charge against the officer.
Jessica Berglund, the director of the police watchdog agency, said in a statement that the IIO found “reasonable grounds exist to believe that one officer may have committed an offence in relation to the use of a firearm.”
The prosecution service said the available evidence does not meet its charge assessment standard, and there is no substantial likelihood of convicting the officer of a criminal charge in the case.
“As a result, no charges have been approved,” the prosecution service said at the conclusion of its investigation.
Cochrane had a history of mental health and addiction issues but had been sober for several years at the time of the incident, his father, Michael Cochrane, told CTV News in the days that followed the police encounter.
Before commandeering the Bobcat, Cochrane was hospitalized for surgery after he was injured in a car crash, his father said, believing his son may have relapsed and was trying to evade authorities with whatever vehicle he could access.
