On Monday, the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU) announced there was no wrongdoing found in the deaths of Benjamin Wood and Evan Jones despite the fact Const. Adam Hill confessed to having murdered both men. The SIU determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe Hill had committed an offence.
The Special Investigations Unit is an Ontario agency at arm’s length from the police. Its mandate is to investigate deaths and serious injuries that occur during interactions with police. The agency also investigates cases where on-duty police officers are alleged to have committed a sexual assault. The SIU either clears the officers of wrongdoing or recommends criminal charges be laid.
In 2009, Hill was one of the officers investigating a stolen car. Wood, the driver of the car, bailed and ran out on the ice of a river. After being told by police to get off the ice, Wood came back and engaged in a brief struggle with Hill. The man then ran back out on the ice, fell through and drowned.
The following year, officers including Hill, were called to a residence regarding a domestic dispute. They found 18-year-old Jones holding two knives. He held one of the knives at his throat, telling police to kill him. Police repeatedly yelled at the teen to drop the knives. At one point, Jones threw a knife at Hill and then raised a meat cleaver in a menacing fashion. Hill then fired four shots, killing Jones. Officers had previously used pepper spray that had no effect on the teen.
The deaths of Wood and Jones were investigated by the SIU shortly after they occurred. The SIU determined Hill’s actions were appropriate on both occasions and no charges were recommended by the agency.
In 2014, Hill walked into the station in Brantford and confessed to “murdering” both men. He said he had punched Wood in the head several times before the man ran back out on the ice. And he said he wasn’t sure Jones even had a knife when he shot him. Hill also said he lied to the SIU during the previous investigations.
After confessing to the murders, Hill was admitted to a mental health facility. He told other officers who visited him in the hospital that he murdered Wood and Jones. As a result of Hill’s statements, the SIU began new investigations into the deaths of both men. And on Monday, the agency announced once again there was no wrongdoing in the deaths of either man.
Statements of witnesses, both police and civilian, determined the facts were essentially as the prior investigations found. Relatives of Jones who were in the residence at the time he was shot and killed confirmed he was in fact armed with knives and threatened the officer. And although Hill claimed he had punched Wood in the head several times before he ran back onto the ice, this was inconsistent with the results of the post-mortem as well as statements by other witnesses who were present.
Tony Loparco, Director of the SIU, said when Hill confessed to the murders, he was “paranoid, delusional, obsessive, dishevelled, unstable and frenzied.” His confession was made as a result of severe mental problems.
The Brantford Police Service will not confirm whether or not Hill is still a member.
