Coroner’s Inquest Gives Recommendations Regarding Death of Dominick Martorino

Notification of the SIU

On April 6, 2021, at 12:10 p.m., the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) reported the following.

At 10:15 a.m., Northumberland OPP received a call to the area of County Road 25 and Tobacco Road, Castleton, for a report of a man sitting in his vehicle yelling at passersby. Police officers arrived in the area at 11:10 a.m. The man, identified as the Complainant, exited his vehicle and approached the police officers with a baseball bat. He broke the windshield on a police vehicle with the bat, then got into his vehicle and drove at police officers. He got out of the vehicle and was shot by Subject Official (SO) #1 and SO #2.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) had been standing by and treated the Complainant, but he subsequently died at the scene.

The Scene

The Complainant sustained, and succumbed to, gunshot wounds on County Road 25, just west of Bonnet Road, Castleton. The area was rural. The primary area of focus was near a ditch on the south side of County Road 25 where the Complainant had dropped a baseball bat and collapsed. The Complainant remained there in the moderately grassy ditch that had a declining slope from County Road 25.

Physical Evidence

The physical items obtained through the investigation were identified as follows:

• CEW Taser blast door and yellow AFID;
• CEW Taser X2;
• CEW Taser cartridge cases (x2);
• Arwen 37-mm cartridge cases (x4);
• Arwen 37-mm cartridge;
• Arwen 37-mm projectiles (x4);
• CEW Taser blast door;
• Wallet;
• Breech cartridge WIN 9mm Luger cartridge – SO #1;
• Breech cartridge WIN 9mm Luger cartridge – SO #2;
• Peerless handcuffs – blood stained;
• Pulled head hair – the Complainant;
• Left hand fingernail clippings – the Complainant;
• Right hand fingernail clippings – the Complainant;
• CEW Taser probes;
• Blood Swab;
• Open package cigarettes;
• Clothing from the Complainant including a heavily bloodstained T-shirt with tears to front collar, shoulder, and mid right front;
• Projectile from superficial right back tissue;
• Projectile from right side liver;
• Fragment from right anterior diaphragm;
• Projectile from right iliac crest;
• Glock 17M 9mm pistol with Surefire model X300 Ultralight – SO #2;
• Glock 9mm model 1587-01 duty magazine with 16 WIN 9mm Luger cartridges – SO #2;
• Glock 17M 9mm pistol with Surefire model X300 Ultralight – SO #1;
• Glock 9mm model 1587-01 duty magazine with 13 WIN 9mm Luger cartridges – SO #1;
• WIN 9mm Luger cartridge cases (x5); and
• Cooper aluminum baseball bat.

Figure 1 – SO #1’s firearm

Figure 2 – SO #2’s firearm

Figure 3 – The Complainant’s baseball bat

Forensic Evidence

Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) Submissions

The following items were submitted to CFS on April 19, 2021 for examination:

• Complainant’s T-shirt – heavily bloodstained with tears to front collar, shoulder, and mid right front;
• Projectile from superficial right back tissue;
• Projectile from right side liver;
• Fragment from right anterior diaphragm;
• Projectile from right iliac crest;
• Glock 17M 9mm pistol with Surefire X300 Ultralight – SO #2;
• Glock 9mm model 1587-01 duty magazine with 16 WIN 9mm Luger cartridges – SO #2;
• Glock 17M 9mm pistol with Surefire X300 Ultralight – SO #1;
• Glock 9mm model 1587-01 duty magazine with 13 WIN 9mm Luger cartridges – SO #1;
• WIN 9-mm Luger cartridge cases (x5); and
• Cooper aluminum baseball bat.

CEW – WO #8 – Summary

At 11:45:03 a.m., WO #8’s CEW was triggered in connection with the deployment of Cartridge 1 from the weapon, for a 5-second duration.

At 11:45:19 a.m., WO #8’s CEW was triggered in connection with the deployment of Cartridge 1 from the weapon, for a 3-second duration.

At 11:45:24 a.m., WO #8’s CEW was triggered in connection with the deployment of Cartridge 2 from the weapon, for a 5-second duration.

OPP Vehicle Global Positioning System (GPS) Data

The SIU obtained the GPS data from nine police vehicles involved in the investigation. The GPS data reflected the route travelled by OPP police officers and the Complainant prior to arriving at the final incident location.

Video/Audio/Photographic Evidence [1]

OPP Radio Communications

Communications: Call for North Grenville units’ zone 13. It has come in as a suspicious
person. It’s northbound on Macklin Road from County Road 29 Northbound Macklin towards First Nations. I’ve got a [colour] pickup truck [make], no marker has been obtained. He was on McDonald Road when the complainant went up to the vehicle the male started yelling and screaming and told the complainant off and calling him names. The complainant is concerned the driver is having some sort of mental breakdown or health crisis. The vehicle on scene went northbound on Macklin Road to 29.
WO #1: I’m just here with this male here.
WO #1: I need more units.
Communications: [address provided].
WO #1: It’s [the Complainant], confirmed that plate.
WO #1: I did not engage, he parked right in front of me and walked up to my
driver’s side door, opened it started slamming it shut screaming at me. He punched my window.
WO #1: Yeah, he’s walking back at me screaming. I’m going to disengage him
so we can get containment and other units here. There is an elderly female in the residence she is on the patio. He’s still out front screaming. I’m not sure at what. He’s wearing a navy-blue hooded sweater, a white checkered style ball cap, grey shorts, he’s a large man, white socks, and white running shoes.
Communications: Any weapons seen?
WO #1: I didn’t see any in the truck or on him.
WO #2: Are you in a safe position?
WO #1: Yeah, I’m not engaging at all.
WO #1: He is on file with police assaultive, escape risk, carries weapons.
WO #1: He’s at the back. Go, go, go, he’s running at the cruiser with a
baseball bat.
WO #12: Orillia, he just smashed my window on the driver’s side.
SO #1: Orillia, we’re going to disengage here. Start containment. He hit a
windshield here he’s now walking southbound, rambling, and shouting. All officers are disengaging at this point.
Unknown: Is there a member with an ARWEN (Anti Riot Weapon ENfield)?
WO #6: WO #3 has an ARWEN on board, what’s your location?
Unknown: He’s out on foot at the end of the driveway, with a bat in hand and
taunting us.
Unknown: Just to confirm, male is staying outside. He’s now getting into his
vehicle.
WO #2: He’s in pursuit of our vehicle. He’s chasing police cars.
Unknown: We’ve got him at 25 and Bonnett Road, shots fired.
WO #2: We have ARWEN shots, male down.
SO #1: Shots fired. First aid being initiated. EMS order please.
Unknown: Shot with a 9mm.
Unknown: CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) in progress, CPR in progress.

The following scenario emerges from the evidence collected by the SIU, which included interviews with officers who were eyewitnesses to the Complainant’s shooting. As was their legal right, neither subject official chose to interview with the SIU. They did authorize the release of their notes.

In the morning of April 6, 2021, the Complainant, who struggled with mental illness, lost touch with reality and embarked on a course of erratic behaviour. Travelling in his family’s pickup truck, he confronted two motorists with threats and profanity, even slapping one in the face. Thereafter, returning to his home in the area of County Road 25 and Tobacco Road, the Complainant approached a police officer – WO #1 – parked in a driveway across from his address and threatened her with violence. He opened and slammed her driver’s door repeatedly, and banged on the cruiser, yelling incoherently about satellites and the ‘FBI’.

WO #1 had been waiting for the Complainant to return to his home. She and other officers had been made aware of a 911 call from a motorist accosted by the Complainant, and were able to ascertain his address from the pickup truck’s licence plate number. WO #1 radioed for assistance as the Complainant’s belligerence escalated. Multiple police officers in several police vehicles answered the call.

The Complainant reacted angrily to the growing police presence. He entered his home, retrieved a metal baseball bat, and repeatedly advanced on officers with it in a threatening fashion, forcing the officers to retreat in their vehicles. On one occasion, the Complainant caught up with a cruiser being operated by WO #12 and swung the bat at the driver’s side window. The blow shattered but did not penetrate the glass.

After several minutes of this toing and froing, the Complainant entered the pickup truck parked on his driveway and began to drive in the direction of police cruisers. His first target was WO #8’s vehicle. The Complainant pursued the cruiser on his property and then through a field out onto the road, nearly colliding with the cruiser. He continued to follow the cruiser as other officers gave chase.

While travelling along the road, the Complainant turned in the direction of a couple of cruisers, forcing them to take evasive action to avoid an impact. He continued west on Pinewood School Road, and then north on Parsons Road. Again, faced with a cruiser proceeding south on Parsons Road toward him, the Complainant travelled into the southbound lane on a collision course with the vehicle, forcing the driver – WO #11 – to steer to the right.

WO #11 maneuvered back onto Parsons Road and pursued the Complainant’s pickup north until County Road 25, where both vehicles turned right to travel east. As the Complainant approached the Bonnett Road intersection, he slowed and then stopped his truck, changed gears, and reversed towards WO #11’s cruiser, striking its driver’s side. The impact sent WO #11’s cruiser rotating on the roadway before it came to a stop a short distance east of the pickup.

The pickup also came to a stop after it struck WO #11’s vehicle. Shortly after that impact, WO #3, operating a Chevrolet Tahoe, intentionally rammed into the driver’s side of the Complainant’s vehicle, driving it into the ditch on the south side of the road. WO #3’s vehicle also came to rest in the ditch, its driver’s side a short distance from, and alongside, the pickup truck’s driver’s side.

The Complainant attempted to exit via the driver’s door of his pickup truck, but was unable to as it was pinned against WO #3’s cruiser. He did, however, manage to leave through the passenger door, but not before he had been struck by rounds discharged by WO #3 firing his ARWEN through the open driver’s door window. Multiple police officers, arriving at the scene shortly after the collisions, surrounded the pickup truck. They yelled at the Complainant to stop and drop the bat he was carrying – the same bat he had wielded at his home. The Complainant was undeterred. He travelled around the back of his truck and the front of WO #3’s Tahoe, after which he turned to walk northward up the ditch in the direction of a number of officers.

SO #1 was among the officers being approached by the Complainant. The officer had been in the passenger seat of WO #3’s cruiser at the time of the collision with the pickup truck, and had exited following the impact. With his firearm in hand, SO #1 ordered the Complainant to stop his advance, retreating backwards as he did so. The Complainant continued towards the officer, and was struck four times with bullets discharged by SO #1’s 9 mm semi-automatic firearm. The time was about 11:36 a.m.

In and around the same time, SO #2 and WO #8 discharged their weapons, a firearm and a CEW, respectively. SO #2 struck the Complainant once. It is unclear whether WO #8’s CEW deployments had any effect on the Complainant, although there is evidence that the Complainant stumbled to the ground at about the same time as the first discharge before he picked himself up, resumed his advance, and was struck by gunfire.

The Complainant fell face-first in the ditch following the gunfire. Unsure whether he was completely immobilized, WO #8 discharged his CEW once again as other officers approached to take the Complainant into custody. He was rolled over and found to be bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. Officers administered first aid and CPR pending the arrival of paramedics, who had been staging in the vicinity and were on scene within a matter of minutes.

Despite the resuscitative efforts of the first responders, the Complainant could not be revived. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Cause of Death

The pathologist at autopsy was of the view that the Complainant’s death was attributable to ‘gunshot wounds of torso’.