Police justified in fatal car-wash shooting

Calgary police were justified in fatally shooting a man who tried to flee from a car wash in a stolen car, concluded a provincial investigation.

Travis Douglas Oakes, 33, was shot at a southwest car wash on March 18, 2009.

Undercover officers, who had been tailing Oakes for about six hours, determined he was driving a stolen car and followed him to the car wash. Police blocked the entrance and exit with their vehicles.

When two officers tried to arrest Oakes, who was standing near a car, he got back into the vehicle and repeatedly tried to ram his way out, said a news release Friday by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.

After the police cars were rammed for the fourth time, a veteran officer who is also a firearms instructor, fired at the windshield, striking Oakes three times. He died from his injuries.

ASIRT, a task force that investigates all deaths and serious injuries involving police, with assistance from the Crown, concluded no criminal charges are warranted in the shooting.

"Our role isn't to determine whether or not the Calgary Police Service made the best decision," said Clifton Purvis, ASIRT's executive director, on Friday. "My role and my mandate is to determine whether or not he should be charged criminally as a result of his actions and I've determined … that no charges will flow."