B.C.’s civilian police oversight agency says a Vancouver Police Department officer who used a Taser on a man after a hammer attack last year acted reasonably.

Just after 1:30 p.m. on May 9, 2024, the VPD responded to reports of an attack outside Pacific Centre downtown, with 911 callers saying a man had hit someone with his fists and then swung a hammer at them. The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) says the suspect then appeared to have taken the alleged victim’s backpack.

The IIO says that when officers arrived, they found the suspect and told him he was under arrest, instructing him to get down on the ground. When he did not immediately do so, an officer used a Taser on the suspect, but it missed and he ran away.

Video footage from the area shows the suspect then being hit by a “slowly moving civilian vehicle” after he ran into the street, the IIO says. It adds the footage shows him getting up and running away, appearing to be uninjured.

The officer then deployed his Taser for a second time. The IIO says this appeared effective and led to him falling onto the ground face-first.

He was then arrested and handcuffed.

After paramedics arrived, it was found that he had a broken collar bone, five non-displaced rib fractures, cuts on his head, and two small wounds caused by the Taser.

The IIO says its investigation involved interviewing several witnesses, reviewing security camera recordings, and examining photos of the injuries.

In a report, Chief Civilian Director Jessica Berglund says it appears the officers were justified in their actions.

“The [suspect] had demonstrated that he was prepared to use a weapon in an assault on a member of the public and represented a continuing threat when he fled,” Berglund wrote.

“The responding officers were justified in apprehending him and in using whatever force was reasonably necessary to do so.”

She says the officers’ actions did not amount to unreasonable or excessive force and she is not recommending charges.