Officers’ errors in carjacking not criminal: B.C. police watchdog

VANCOUVER — The Independent Investigations Office says Vancouver police officers who shot a man during an alleged carjacking two years ago made “errors,” but the mistakes weren’t criminal.

The police watchdog says in its decision released Friday that two officers responded to a report of a carjacking on Main Street in the early morning of Nov. 30, 2024, and pulled their vehicle in front of the parked car before approaching on foot to each side.

The decision says one of the officers tried to break the driver’s window with the butt of his pistol, setting off the accidental discharge of his firearm.

The other officer, upon hearing the discharge, thought the driver shot at his colleague and fired his pistol at the man, hitting him in the upper right arm.

The decision says the two officers had been directed to stop their attempts to apprehend the man, but did not, and then failed to communicate between themselves despite having trouble seeing each other from opposite sides of the vehicle.

It says one of the officers acted “inappropriately” by trying to use his pistol to break the glass, causing the accidental discharge that resulted in his partner shooting the man.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2026.

The Canadian Press