A Canadian police officer who was shot nine times by a colleague is now on trial for assault for the confrontation that began with a break in the bathroom.
Soldier Nathan Parker, 55, of the Niagara Regional Police, is charged with assault with a weapon, intent to resist arrest and assaulting a police officer after attacking Detective Sergeant Shane Donovan.
On Tuesday, Donovan told an Ontario court that he barely knew Parker when the two worked on a collision reconstruction scene in rural Ontario in November 2018. Donovan was leading the operation when he assigned Parker to stop using the road to residents.
The court learned that Parker left the place and defended himself when Donovan asked him to stay. Parker said he had to leave to use the bathroom.
“You talk to a sergeant,” Donovan told him, he said.
But the confrontation escalated when Parker got out of his vehicle and pushed Donovan, according to the court.
“He’s under arrest for assault,” Donovan told Parker.
Donovan told the court that Parker continued toward him, punching him and punching him.
The sergeant said he put his hands up and returned to his vehicle. But Parker punched him again, who drew his baton issued by the police.
Fearing that a blow to the head could be fatal, Donovan drew his weapon.
“Oh, do you want to do that?” said Parker who drew his own weapon.
“I knew that if I put the gun to me, it would kill me, and it was either me or him,” Donovan said. “So I fired the gun until he dropped the gun.”
Investigators recovered 10 carcasses at the scene.
“My belief was that my life was in danger,” Donovan said. “He’s already attacked me, hit me three or four times.”
Donovan told the court that his experience with Parker was the first time he pulled the gun.
A medical examination found four gunshot wounds to Parker’s left calf, lower abdomen, left hip and back of his right foot. He also had wounds to his nose and cheek, as well as his left shoulder and upper thigh.
The Ontario Special Investigations Unit, which is investigating shootings with police officers, initially charged Donovan, including an attempted murder, but the charges were later dropped.
Donovan will continue his testimony Wednesday in the judge-only trial.