Latest news with #SeanORourke
CTV News
26-06-2025
- CTV News
Chatham-Kent OPP officer under investigation of Professional Standards Branch
An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) patch is seen in Ottawa, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby A Chatham-Kent OPP officer is under investigation of the OPP's Professional Standards Branch after being acquitted of manslaughter earlier in the week. Const. Sean O'Rourke was acquitted in the death of 24-year-old Nicholas Grieves, who was killed on July 7, 2021 while behind the wheel of his car. O'Rourke, who's now 58, was charged with manslaughter and found not guilty on Tuesday. Court learned that the officer was responding to a gas theft and when he tried to pull Grieves over on Highway 401, the car struck the police cruiser, spun out, and ended up in the ditch. The court ruled there was a serious threat to O'Rourke's safety and his gun was fired accidentally. O'Rourke is still suspended from duty with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation by the Professional Standards Branch.
CBC
25-06-2025
- CBC
Chatham-Kent OPP officer not guilty of manslaughter in 2021 shooting death
A Chatham-Kent Ontario Provincial Police officer has been found not guilty in the 2021 shooting death of a man from Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford. Justice Bruce Thomas released his decision in Superior Court on Tuesday, nearly a month after Const. Sean O'Rourke's judge-alone manslaughter trial had ended. The CBC's Pratyush Dayal reports.
CTV News
25-06-2025
- CTV News
‘No criminal conduct': Chatham-Kent OPP officer found not guilty of manslaughter
Const. Sean O'Rourke, 58, was acquitted Tuesday in the on-duty death of Nicholas Grieves, 24. He was shot and killed on July 7, 2021, while seated behind the wheel of his car, in the center median of Highway 401 near Highgate. Constable O'Rourke pulled Grieves' vehicle over for a theft of $40 in gas from the Dutton ONRoute. O'Rourke testified at trial that Grieves did not pull his car over after the emergency lights were turned on. He also alleged Grieves rammed into his cruiser. O'Rourke told the court he doesn't know why his handgun went off after he tripped and stumbled into the front seat of Grieves' car. Grieves fiancée at the time told the court she is still traumatized by the incident and said the gun went off near her face, while seated in the front passenger seat. Nicholas Grieves Nicholas Grieves. (Source: Angela Keats) O'Rourke acted 'reasonably and objectively' Justice Bruce Thomas' judgment Tuesday took more than 75 minutes to read into the record, in front of a standing-room only courtroom. It was packed with more than 100 people, primarily supports of O'Rourke, with more than a dozen for the Grieves family. Put simply, Justice Thomas rejected the evidence of Grieves' passengers and accepted the evidence of the officer. 'O'Rourke was confronted with a suspect who would do anything to escape,' Justice Thomas said. 'I am not prepared to second guess the officer's decision in these circumstances.' The judge ruled that it was Grieves who struck the officers cruiser in an attempt to get away from police. He said the incident then became 'something more' than a routine traffic stop for a theft of gas. Although the judge characterized O'Rourke's use of a tandem stop as 'aggressive', he agreed with how O'Rourke responded after the cruiser was struck. Grieves drove down into the center median, which was full of water from an early morning rainfall. The judge agreed with O'Rourke's evidence that Grieves continued to try to get out of the ditch by revving the engine, he did not obey commands to put his hands up and Grieves kept looking in the center console. 'Police action should not be judged against a standard of perfection,' Justice Thomas said. 'It must be remembered that police engage in dangerous and demanding work and often have to react quickly to emergencies. Their actions should be judged in light of exigent circumstances.' The judge also agreed with O'Rourke's evidence that he stumbled walking down the slope towards Grieves' car, forcing his upper body into the car. The shell casing for the 9-mm shot at Grieves was found inside the car. The judge further ruled he accepts that O'Rourke's finger slid down onto the trigger as the officer tried to get out of the front seat. 'Const. O'Rourke's gun should never have been fired. Nicholas Grieves should never have been killed,' Justice Thomas said. 'There was, however, no criminal conduct by the officer.' Courtroom reactions One person with the Grieves family was emotional during the judgment. Family members swiftly exited the courthouse Tuesday after the decision. The people in the courtroom in support of O'Rourke didn't make obvious reactions and the officer himself barely reacted. He declined to speak with the media after the judgment, according to his lawyer, Sandip Khehra. 'He just wants his privacy and just wants a moment to reflect,' Khehra said. 'It's been a long almost four years for him.' Khehra said O'Rourke is 'relieved' by the decision. 'As his Honour said, there's still someone that's dead and so its still not really a day of joy but relief, at least for one person.' OPPA statement The Ontario Provincial Police Association issued a statement after O'Rourke's' acquittal. 'The OPP Association supports OPP Provincial Constable Sean O'Rourke Today, PC O'Rourke was acquitted of manslaughter in Ontario Provincial Court in Chatham relating to a line of duty incident that occurred on Highway 401 near Ridgetown, Ontario on July 7, 2021. On that day, a 25yr old man tragically died as PC O'Rourke and other police officers were trying to apprehend the suspect while fleeing police after a theft of gas. The lives of the family of the deceased, our police officers and our civilian members have been forever impacted." OPP Association President John Cerasuolo commented: 'We respect the court's decision and believe it reflects the complexities faced by police officers in dangerous and unpredictable situations. Our officers are dedicated to serving and protecting the citizens of Ontario, often in circumstances beyond their control. This has been an extraordinarily difficult period for all involved, and we remain committed to supporting Provincial Constable O'Rourke, along with all our members and their families, as they continue to navigate the emotional aftermath of this event.' Defence Counsel Sandy Khehra added: 'It is essential that the law recognizes the realities and risks inherent in policing. Police officers are entrusted to use reasonable force to protect themselves and others. We are relieved that the court's decision reflects this understanding.' Available resources: The OPP Association encourage anyone impacted by this situation to reach out and lean on those closest to them, as well as seek professional mental health assistance. For members of the public, the Canadian Mental Health Association has a number of resources on their website The Ontario Provincial Police Association's (OPPA) Encompas Mental Health Wellness Program is available to our members and their families by calling 24/7: 1-866-794-9117 or by visiting Confidential support services are available to all OPP members, families, retirees, and auxiliaries through the OPP's Healthy Workplace Team (HWT) available by phone, toll-free at 1-844-OPP-9409 (1-844-677-9409), or by directly contacting any HWT member.
CBC
23-05-2025
- CBC
Lawyers make closing arguments in OPP officer's manslaughter case
Social Sharing Did OPP Const. Sean O'Rourke trip and fall into the car of Nicholas Grieves, causing his gun to go off? Or was that all a lie to cover up O'Rourke's alleged carelessness — that he never should have drawn and pointed his gun and allowed his finger to come onto the trigger? Lawyers for both the defence and the Crown presented these competing versions of events on Friday in closing arguments at the conclusion of the seven-day manslaughter trial in the Chatham Superior Court of Justice. Grieves, 24, was shot and killed in July 2021 after stealing $40 of gas from a Dutton gas station. Much of the evidence and testimony in the trial has centred on the 87 seconds between when O'Rourke made the decision to turn on his police vehicle lights to stop the car carrying Grieves and two other people and the moment Grieves was shot. Defence lawyer Sandy Khehra said the physical evidence and the basis for O'Rourke's actions was clear. "We cannot expect our police officers to just back off every time there is a situation," Khehra said, positing that any member of the public would expect O'Rourke to act as he did in that situation. "Officer O'Rourke is not the one that created that situation, he reacted to the situation …. Here we are taking two weeks to dissect those 87 seconds." Khehra also drew on the location of the shell casing from O'Rourke's gun — inside the front passenger foot well of the car — as evidence that O'Rourke had tripped and stumbled to come head and shoulders inside the car in the seconds before the gun went off. He also noted the dirt on O'Rourke's pants as further evidence of the stumble. The closing submissions of Crown attorney Jason Nicol were longer. Nicol argued that it was never reasonable for O'Rourke to have drawn, much less pointed, his firearm, and that the gun could only have gone off as a result of O'Rourke pulling the trigger. During his testimony, O'Rourke said Grieves rammed his police vehicle, an action he described as violent, intentional and something that increased the danger of serious harm or death O'Rourke perceived in the situation. The court had heard that serious bodily harm or death was the criteria for police use of force. But Nicol posited the ramming had never happened, and that instead contact between the two cars was incidental and the damage on O'Rourke's car was not significant enough to have come from such a collision. That suggestion prompted stern words from the judge. He acknowledged the alleged ramming was a significant piece of evidence in the case but that accident reconstruction was not completed by the Special Investigations Unit, the police watchdog that investigated the case, or the OPP. "We have a civilian shot to death in the median by a police officer and we have no accident reconstruction," Justice Bruce Thomas said. "It's ridiculous. I am critical of that." Nicol told the court he believed O'Rourke had exaggerated the risk, ignored the innocent possibilities behind the incident and that "it was not reasonable for him to draw his firearm." Even if the judge found it was reasonable for O'Rourke to have drawn his firearm, Nicol said, there was no reason to point it at Grieves and "that was the accused's greatest overreaction in this incident." Khehra said he disagreed. Nicol also suggested that O'Rourke had not stumbled and instead, that he fired the gun from outside the car, not inside as he had told the court. "I cannot see how you can find a stumble doesn't happen," Khehra said in response. Thomas interjected at points with questions and statements for each of the lawyers. "It means this officer had to react in a very short period of time … the other side of the cutting edge, is did he need to?," Thomas said of the 87 seconds during which the incident unfolded. "That's part of my decision." Court will return on June 24 for the judge's decision in the case.
CBC
16-05-2025
- CBC
OPP officer accused of manslaughter says he tripped, fell into suspect car
Const. Sean O'Rourke on Thursday testified that he tripped and fell into the car Nicholas Grieves was driving shortly before Grieves' death — and that he doesn't know how the gun he was carrying went off. O'Rourke is on trial this week for manslaughter in a judge-alone trial in Chatham Superior court. He has pleaded not guilty. Grieves, 24, was living in Windsor at the time of his death and was a member of Six Nations of the Grand River. On July 7, 2021, the OPP responded to a call about a gasoline theft at a gas station along Highway 401 in Dutton, Ont. Officers located the vehicle, believed to be travelling westbound, and followed it. "A theft fuel call is almost all the times coupled with more serious criminal activities," O'Rourke told the court as the rationale for making the pursuit. O'Rourke said the car's "continuous weaving" made him believe the driver was impaired, fatigued or texting while driving. O'Rourke said he and another officer, Sgt. Bradley Cooke — who testified Tuesday — agreed to perform a tandem stop, in which a vehicle is boxed in to stop it. But O'Rourke said Grieves kept accelerating. "The operator of the vehicle came over into my lane and rammed the front of my trooper," he said. "It was shocking. It astonished me … I never had anyone ram my police vehicle let alone at 100 kilometres [an hour] … it was very violent, unexpected and intentional." 'Neither the passenger nor the driver were obeying commands' O'Rourke said after the impact, he saw Grieves' car spin and land in the ditch. "It conducted a full 360 [degree] turn," he said, adding that the vehicle's passenger side tires lifted off the ground several inches. O'Rourke said he then could see the driver in his rear view mirror and understood there was a front passenger, too. "I could directly see into the eyes of the driver. His eyes were extremely crazed, bugging out of his face," he told the court. O'Rourke said he saw the driver looking at the centre console, which he found "concerning," and thought Grieves was trying to get a weapon. "The Grieves family will have to excuse me but this driver was completely crazed. He didn't care about me." O'Rourke says he drew his firearm and started ordering the driver to show his hands. "Neither the passenger nor the driver were obeying commands … their hands were down." 'The gun went off… I didn't know how' O'Rourke said he stepped forward to see what the driver was doing as he kept rummaging through the centre console. "I stumbled forward, much like stubbing a toe on a piece of furniture … losing balance and I was propelled into the car," he said. O'Rourke said his hands and shoulders were now in the car as he kept holding his gun with his elbows locked out and arms extended, with his gun accessible to the front seat passengers. He demonstrated to the court how he was holding his gun with both hands with his fingers on the firearm's slide. O'Rourke said he didn't see a gun inside and started struggling to get free. "The gun went off. It completely shocked me. I didn't know why. I didn't know how," he told the court in tears. He said he removed himself from the car and immediately administered first aid. He told the court they performed CPR on Grieves and he also did an artificial resuscitation, and eventually EMS arrived and took over. O'Rourke says he felt his actions met the bar for the police use of force model, which says there must be a risk of serious bodily harm or death. The model was discussed in Wednesday's court proceedings. "There's no question. I absolutely felt that the situation met the mandate of serious bodily harm or death," he said. On Wednesday, a firearms expert who had examined O'Rourke's gun testified it was in good working order. The Crown is expected to cross-examine O'Rourke on Friday. O'Rourke, who joined the Chatham-Kent OPP detachment in 2004, has been suspended with pay since being charged by the unit in 2022.
