The province's Special Investigation Unit (SIU) is probing the death of a 45-year-old Midland man who died nearly a month after officers responded to a gun-related call and the person was bitten by a police dog.
The SIU says that on Oct. 13, 2023, officers from the Southern Georgian Bay OPP detachment responded to a gun call involving two men in Midland. One man fled and a police dog located and bit the man. He was arrested and taken into custody.
The man died Sunday in hospital.
According to a news release from the OPP following the Oct. 13 incident, police were called to the area of Bay Street and Second Avenue for a reported dispute around 2:30 p.m.
When officers arrived, they learned that a man involved in the dispute was seen carrying a firearm before he left the area in a vehicle.
Their investigation led them to a residential complex on William Street where the man and an accompanied woman barricaded themselves inside.
Several hours later, the woman left the complex and was arrested. Later that evening, the male suspect was taken into custody and taken to the hospital for treatment in relation to the arrest involving the K9, according to a police news release on Oct 14.
Two days later, police identified him as a 45-year-old from Midland.
The OPP added that after the standoff ended, officers executed a search warrant at the man's apartment resulting in the seizure of a quantity of drugs, several airsoft rifles, ammunition, a machete, Canadian currency and drug paraphernalia.
He was charged with a total of nine drug-related and firearm offences.
A 40-year-old woman was also charged in connection with the incident.
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