Following the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions’ (DPCP) July 22 decision not to press charges against a Sûreté du Québec officer who fatally shot a man in Clarendon on June 5, 2023, Quebec’s police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) announced on July 30 that it has closed its investigation into the case.
The victim, Christopher Watson, was 39 years-old at the time of his death.
The report that the BEI submitted to the DPCP in April of this year included interviews with five civilian witnesses and the two officers involved, recordings of the 911 call and the SQ radio transmissions, as well as various forensics reports.
CHIP 101.9 reached out to the DPCP, the BEI and Watson’s family, but all declined to comment. The statement notes that the prosecutor met with Watson’s family to inform them of their rationale. The DPCP’s decision contains the most detailed account of the incident that has been made public thus far.
