Criminal charges have been dropped against a Niagara police officer accused of shooting another officer in rural Pelham, Ont., last year.
In an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Friday, Crown attorney Ian Bulmer said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction in the case against Niagara Regional Police Det. Sgt. Shane Donovan.
He asked the judge to withdraw charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.
On Nov. 29, 2018, Donovan, 57, and NRP Const. Nathan Parker were investigating a motor vehicle collision on Effingham Street and Roland Road in Pelham.
There was an altercation between the two officers and Parker, 52, was shot at least five times, according to police sources.
He was injured in the shoulder and upper leg and one bullet took off the end of his nose. His bulletproof vest stopped or deflected other bullets.
Donovan, a 20-year veteran of the police force who headed up the collision reconstruction unit at the time of the shooting, was charged in March following an investigation by the province’s Special Investigations Unit.
In a separate but parallel investigation, Ontario Provincial Police charged Parker in May with assaulting a police officer, assault with intent to resist arrest and assault with a weapon in connection with the same incident.