| Aug 01, 2013


Bob Srigley had a history of altercations with OPP

Late Thursday afternoon Bob Srigley was shot by police officers who attended his home on Arden Road shortly after a 911 call was made by Frontenac News staff. He died at Kingston General Hospital on Sunday Night at 7:48 pm.

A 45-year-old man involved last week in an interaction with Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers in Central Frontenac succumbed to his injuries yesterday evening. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) continues to probe the circumstances surrounding his death,” said a press release from the SIU on Monday.

The preliminary information that the SIU has gathered indicates that police attended Mr. Srigley's residence at 5:20 pm on Thursday, and “during the interaction between OPP officers and a male at the residence, police firearms were discharged and the man was struck multiple times.”

In a press release on Thursday, the OPP alleged that “When officers arrived, they were confronted by an armed male. Shots were fired”

Srigley was transported to Kingston General Hospital where he underwent surgery on Thursday evening.

The SIU have assigned 5 investigators and two forensic officers to the case. At this point they have designated two of the OPP officers who were involved in the shooting as “subject officers” and six other OPP members as “witness officers”.

911 call

On Thursday afternoon at about 4pm, a distraught Bob Srigley phoned the Frontenac News office about a story. He wanted to talk to the editor (Jeff Green) about his ongoing dispute with police over an incident that took place last November, which had been covered by the News at that time.

When informed that Green was not in the office, and offered the opportunity to contact him at home, Srigley declined. He then said he was going to get into his boat and set himself on fire, and subsequently hung up.

The newspaper staff contacted Jeff Green at home and the decision was made to call 911.

The SIU has not confirmed that Bob Srigley was the individual who was shot by the OPP on Thursday, saying only that the man was 45 years old and the incident took place on the Arden-Tamworth road. The SIU met with News staff on the weekend concerning the 911 call and the resulting police shooting, so we are certain Bob Srigley was the man who was shot and killed.

Srigley first called the News on November 15, 2012, and alleged that he had recently been beaten by two off-duty OPP officers (who are not assigned to the Sharbot Lake or Lanark OPP detachments – the ones that responded to the 911 call last week) in front of a hunt camp that is located across the road from his property. He lived in a trailer on a small lot that is wedged been the Arden Road and a section of the Salmon River.

That case was already being investigated by the Sharbot Lake OPP, who along with Frontenac Paramedic Services, responded to a 911 call that Mr. Srigley placed on November 6, just after the incident took place. Mr. Srigley was taken to Napanee Hospital by ambulance. He was released in the early hours of the next morning.

He told the News that he suffered from broken ribs, a damaged kidney, and other injuries.

An investigation into the incident was headed up by Detective Sergeant Mark Allison, of the Professional Standards Division of the OPP in Kingston. In the end, the Crown attorney's office decided not to lay any charges against OPP officers Brown and Johnson, who had been the subject of Allison's investigation.

“Consultation was sought with the Crown Attorney. It is the Crown Attorney’s opinion that based on the evidence; there is no reasonable prospect of conviction of either Mr. Brown or Mr. Johnston in relation to the offences of assault causing bodily harm ... The investigation is now closed,” wrote Sergeant Allison to Srigley in early March.

Since then, Bob Srigley has repeatedly contacted the News, seeking further help in publicising his ongoing health issues and the difficulty he said he was having with the day to day maintenance of his property. He was also seeking financial support from the public to enable him to undertake a private prosecution of the OPP for how his incident was handled.

A few weeks ago he was informed that the OPP Complaints Commission was looking into his case. A small item, “Arden man pursuing his case” was published in the Frontenac News on this matter on July 18.

(Note: In two press releases from the SIU, it was stated erroneously that the fatal shooting took place on Crotch Lake. The SIU has been informed of the error.)

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