In their own words: What happened when a Niagara cop shot another during a dispute that started over a bathroom break

At least eight bullets had torn into his flesh. His insides felt like they’d exploded. He’d been shot at 10 or 11 times.

He is cursing at the man who shot him.

Ten feet away, standing on the rural Pelham road, Det. Sgt. Shane Donovan holds his gun.

In his 20 years with the Niagara Regional Police Service, Donovan has never fired at a person. Not a suspect. Certainly never a fellow officer.

Donovan calls for an ambulance on his cruiser’s radio. His voice is strained. He can’t catch his breath.

“Can you confirm it’s blue on blue shots fired?” the dispatcher asks.

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• Dec 31, 1969
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• Dec 31, 1969
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“Confirmed,” Donovan says. “He did pull a gun on me but I shot him.”

Before long, a nurse practitioner will arrive and tend to Parker, a 28-year-veteran of the force. He’ll be taken to hospital with critical injuries and then airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital. Detectives will swarm the area.

Donovan will be escorted into a police vehicle and taken to NRP headquarters in Niagara Falls. He’ll ask another officer to call his wife. He knows he’s too upset to get the words out.

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit will take charge and comb the scene. Newspaper, TV and radio reporters from across Ontario will descend on the rural Niagara intersection.

“I couldn’t believe what had happened,” Donovan testified later. “I just didn’t understand how it got so far, so fast.”

“I couldn’t believe what had just happened,” Parker said later. “He shot me.”

***

It’s been five years since that violent showdown on Nov. 29, 2018, on Roland Road by Effingham Street.

The two officers were on duty on a country road that day, surrounded by snow-covered farm fields and rural homes near the forests of Short Hills Provincial Park. Their fellow officers were working down the road out of sight, about 900 metres away.

Donovan told his version of what happened in detail in a courtroom and in a civil suit. His lawyer Margaret Hoy declined further comment by herself or Donovan. Now, for the first time, Parker is telling his side of the story publicly in an interview with The Standard.

The pair, both since retired, see the confrontation through radically different eyes.

Neither of their versions has been substantiated in court. Neither has been punished.

Donovan was charged with the attempted murder of Parker. Those charges were dropped.

Parker was charged with assaulting a police officer. Those charges were stayed.

Both say the other is at fault. Both say the other was the first to strike.

What they can agree on is it started over a bathroom break.

***

The path that would bring Parker and Donovan together was laid 17 days earlier on the evening of Nov. 12, 2018. A 19-year-old driver lost control of his car on a curve and slammed into a tree on Roland Road. The car burst into flames. The driver and a front-seat passenger were able to escape, but a young woman trapped in the back was rescued by a passing driver and suffered serious injuries.

The NRP’s collision reconstruction unit, a forensic team led by Donovan that investigates life-threatening and fatal crashes, was not called out that night.

But later, a Niagara Crown attorney requested the team’s assistance for the case. He needed them to gather evidence he could use in court.

It took about a week to make arrangements and find a day that wasn’t rainy or snowy. The forecast looked good for Nov 29.

“It looked like it was going to be a nice day to complete this task,” Donovan testified in September 2021 at a trial against Parker.

Donovan sent three detectives to map the crash scene, but he needed two uniformed officers to block off a 1.2-kilometre section of the road.

He called the staff sergeant’s office in Welland just before 8:20 a.m. Could he send two officers? The district was at minimum staffing and could only spare one person.

One officer was not ideal, but Donovan would take what he could get.

What he got was Nathan Parker.

***

Trouble has followed Nathan Parker through his career.

Parker’s disciplinary rap sheet goes back to 2007, the first of three times he was up on Ontario Police Services Act charges for violent behaviour — pepper spraying a suspect handcuffed in his cruiser, arresting a cyclist without cause and using unnecessary force during a traffic stop he made while off duty.

He pleaded not guilty of misconduct in the first two cases but was found guilty in hearings and pleaded guilty in the third incident. He was docked pay and, at one point, ordered to take anger management classes.

A disciplinary officer in 2015 said Parker had stayed out of trouble for two years, which meant he could be rehabilitated.

Donovan had not worked with Parker before, but he knew of him by reputation. He later told the SIU in statements read in court in 2021 that he knew Parker to be a bigger man, a “bully” and “not approachable.”

“I know Const. Parker to be an aggressive person. I know that he has a violent past, so the least I have to do with him the better.”

Parker claims most of the disciplinary charges against him were “manufactured” by supervisors he believes were bucking for promotion.

“You have to have an example of disciplinary action on your resume to get promoted within,” said Parker.

He doesn’t think his disciplinary record had an impact in how Donovan reacted on that clear November morning.

Donovan, he said, just “lost all emotional control.”

What follows is how the events of that day unfolded, told from each officer’s point of view. Donovan’s statements are from his testimony in a trial against Parker in Hamilton in September 2021 and Parker’s from an interview this month.

DONOVAN

Donovan arrived at Roland Road at 9:35 a.m. after stopping to pick up a marked SUV.

His detectives were there, ready to get to work. They just needed the road barricades and Parker.

Because only one uniform officer was being sent, Donovan would join the team and block the road at Sulphur Spring Drive. Parker would be set up on the other end of the crash site at Effingham Road.

A police officer needs to be at each barricade to prevent motorists from going around them and hitting investigators, Donovan testified in 2021.

“Officer safety is a big concern because of the windy roads. And the officers are not paying attention to traffic. They believe traffic will not come through. They’re concerned with doing their job,” he said.

Donovan called dispatch to get an ETA on the constable. Parker showed up in a marked police cruiser at about 10:05 a.m. just after the barricades arrived.

Parker parked on Effingham Road outside the barricade. Donovan waved his arm to get him in to come inside.

“He did nothing. He stayed where he was. A second time I put my arm up and I waved him in, again he did nothing. So now, I waved him in, and I pointed to the ground, to indicate this is where I want you,” he said. “Eventually, after the third time, he did come within the barricade and parked his vehicle on the correct side of the barricades.”

Donovan testified he walked to the passenger side of Parker’s vehicle and Parker rolled down his window.

“I advised him that we would be here for about four to five hours and there was no response at all. And I left it at that. I walked back to my cruiser.”

With Parker at one set of barricades and Donovan at the other, the detectives could start working.

PARKER

Parker started his shift at 6 a.m. that day. He was told about his posting at Roland and Effingham at 9:48 a.m.

He left the police station with his lunch bag and set out to block the road for what he expected would be up to six hours.

Arriving at the intersection, he parked the Ford Taurus cruiser at the wooden barricade.

At some point he saw Donovan waving at him to move his vehicle to the other side of the barrier. He did it, though he didn’t think it was necessary.

His marked cruiser was more visible than a wooden barricade.

“There is no wrong side of the barriers. There’s no such thing. It’s whatever side you’re on,” he said.

“When you come on scene do you see a barricade or do you see a cruiser? You see the cruiser.”

He pulled around and parked slightly off to the side, with the barricade behind him. He said the wooden barricade didn’t completely cover the road because local residents had to be able to come and go and deliveries had to be made to a farm just inside the barrier.

DONOVAN

By 10:35 a.m., Donovan needed a break. He arranged for one of the detectives to take his place at the Sulphur Spring Drive barricade so he could drive to Welland to get gas, use a washroom at the mall and buy pizza for the team.

As he returned to the Pelham barricade with the food before noon, he got a call from one of his detectives that cars were coming down Roland Road.

They were coming from the Effingham Road direction where Parker was posted.

Donovan continued slowly up the road, stopping to speak to one elderly driver passing him. At Effingham, he found Parker and his cruiser were gone.

Sometimes officers are called away if a big call comes in and extra police are needed, he said.

Donovan called dispatch. Had Parker been called away from the blockade?

“Negative,” said the dispatcher. “He said he needed relief and I said I was working on it. Did he leave?”

“He is gone and vehicles are coming through.”

“10-4.”

Donovan texted a detective on his team at 12:02 p.m. to let him know dispatch was working on getting another officer to replace the one who left.

He said Parker returned at 12:13 p.m.

PARKER

After two hours parked on the road, Parker messaged dispatch requesting immediate relief. He needed to use the washroom. Badly.

“If I didn’t get immediate, I was going to end up pissing my pants. That’s how bad it was. This was midday, middle of the day.”

He said the dispatcher told him she’d get him relief right away.

“She called the traffic unit three or four times. They didn’t answer because none of them had their radios on. They weren’t wearing their portable radios, they didn’t have their car radios on. How contact was made was by telephone with Donovan, who wasn’t at the scene.”

He said dispatch told him to hang on. Parker couldn’t hold it any longer.

“I waited, I want to say, five to 10 minutes. Nobody answered, so I’m like, I gotta go. So I left.”

Parker didn’t believe leaving the barricade for a few minutes would put officers’ lives in jeopardy.

“Because you’re on the roadway does not mean your life is in danger. You take precautions but that does not mean somebody out there is going to mow you down,” he said.

“Roland Road, it’s not like Geneva (Street in St. Catharines), it’s maybe one car every couple of minutes. It’s not a high-traffic road.”

Parker drove south on Effingham Road, turned left on Highway 20 which took him east to a Tim Hortons at the bottom of the hill. He used the washroom and then got back in the car. He said he didn’t stop. Didn’t get anything to eat.

He drove back to Effingham and parked, hit his “on scene button” in the cruiser which told dispatch the unit was back at the site. He estimated he was gone 10 to 12 minutes.

DONOVAN

In Donovan’s version of events, as told to a Hamilton court in 2021, he got out of his SUV and walked up to Parker’s cruiser. The constable rolled down his passenger window and Donovan told him not to leave again.

“I had to go for a piss!” Parker said, according to Donovan.

“Well, if you have to leave again, please let me know and I’ll get you some relief.”

“If you turn on your f--king radio, then I could!”

As a detective, Donovan didn’t carry a portable radio, but had a work cellphone and a police radio in the SUV. Dispatch could reach him on either device.

Hoping to calm things down, Donovan pulled rank. “Do you know you’re speaking to a sergeant?”

It didn’t help.

“It was just very loud. His body language. The look on his face. He just, to me, he was very upset,” Donovan told the court.

“I was hoping just to calm things down and just him to relax and maybe talk to me with a little bit of respect. And we could solve this and get on with our day.”

Parker said nothing but got out of the cruiser and walked around to its front. Donovan walked towards him.

“In my mind, OK, he’s probably going to yell at me. Words may be exchanged, but that’s all I’m thinking,” said Donovan.

PARKER

In Parker’s version of events, Donovan came over to his car and banged on the passenger window.

He rolled down the window and Donovan immediately started yelling at him. Screaming that he left his “f--king post.”

“Why didn’t you answer your radio?” Parker said. “You don’t even have a radio on. You’re not in proper uniform, that’s neglect. Leave. Get out of here.”

“Do you know I’m a sergeant? You can’t f--king talk to me like that,” Donovan said, according to Parker.

That’s when Parker said he raised his own voice.

“I don’t care who the f--k you are. Get out of here now. I don’t piss my pants for anybody.”

Parker said Donovan was leaning in, with his head and shoulders through the passenger window while yelling. He was hanging in so far, his hand was on Parker’s lunch bag on the seat.

This was ridiculous, from Parker’s view of it. A conflict about going to the bathroom was not something he was going to be yelled at about on a public road.

If Donovan had that much of problem with him leaving to relieve himself, he could launch a complaint with the staff sergeant or inspector at the division.

Parker asked Donovan to leave. He wouldn’t. Parker got out of his car.

He walked to the front, to the driver’s side head lamp and asked Donovan to leave again, pointing at the SUV.

“Get the f--k out of here, get back in your f--king vehicle and leave.”

“You can’t talk to me like that. I’m a supervisor,” Donovan responded, according to Parker.

That’s when he said Donovan came around to the front of his car and tried to tackle him.

“He charged at me. He two-hand pushed me,” Parker said.

“I pushed him back. And I looked at him, I said, ‘What’s going on?’ And he goes, ‘That’s assault police. I went, ‘What?’”

DONOVAN

When Donovan got to the front passenger corner of Parker’s vehicle, he expected to talk. But he said no words were exchanged.

The two hands came at his chest with such force, he testified he was pushed backwards four to five feet.

He was stunned. He couldn’t believe he’d just been shoved.

“You’re under arrest for assault!”

He said Parker stepped closer and threw a “haymaker” — a big punch — at his head, which he tried to block with his arm. The punch still made partial contact.

There were no other officers in sight. Donovan said he didn’t have time to pull out his cellphone. All he could do was try to get away.

Donovan backed up and put his hands out in front of him as if to say OK.

He turned towards his parked cruiser and reached for the door handle with his left hand but couldn’t touch it. Another punch came at his head which he again partially blocked.

Then Donovan punched back, aiming at Parker’s head.

“Why did you throw a punch at Const. Parker at that point?” a Crown attorney later asked.

“Because I couldn’t get away. I thought that was the only way I could stop him from coming at me.”

“Did it stop him?”

“No, it did not.”

Donovan said he was punched again. He backed away to the rear of his cruiser trying to create some distance from Parker.

But he testified as he was backing away, Parker continued to move forward and pulled out an ASP baton, a type of extendable nightstick.

“I’m astonished this has gotten this far. I can’t believe it. And my training kicked in,” Donovan testified.

“In training, when we do the training, if someone’s coming at us with an ASP baton, a stick, a knife, we go one up and we pull out our service pistol.”

PARKER

Parker said Donovan never told him he was under arrest. He said, “That was assault police.”

“I basically just laughed at him,” Parker said. “I said, ‘No it’s not.’”

Parker said Donovan never tried to walk away. Never tried to leave. Refused to leave.

Instead, he started running in a circle a couple of feet in front of Parker.

“He’s running around in a circle in front of me, fist pumping in the air, doing this,” said Parker, acting out punching the air. “I’m looking at him like, ‘What is the matter with you? What are you doing?’ He stops.”

Parker said Donovan pulled his right hand back and took a long drawn out swing at him. Parker stepped forward and was hit in the shoulder and hand.

He responded by smacking Donovan on the head with his hand to get his attention and “wake him from whatever frenzied state he was in.”

“I went, ‘Are you serious? You seriously want to go with me? Get the f--k out of here.’”

Parker said he was empty handed. He was not holding a baton. He pointed with his hand telling Donovan to leave.

He said Donovan then ran backwards 15 steps, lifted his gun and pointed it.

A heartbeat later, Parker said he got a bullet in the head.

DONOVAN

Donovan stood with his feet shoulder width apart. He held his Glock 22 .40-calibre service pistol in his right hand, which rested in his left palm. The barrel of the gun was pointed at Parker.

That’s when Donovan said Parker dropped the baton.

“Oh, you want to do this?” Donovan testified Parker shouted while reaching for his service pistol.

Donovan said he saw the gun leave Parker’s holster.

Saw the gun in its entirety.

Donovan was not wearing a bullet-proof vest.

“When he dropped the ASP and pulled out his firearm, I knew if he got the firearm up on me, that he would kill me. And it was either me or him. So I fired my gun until he dropped his gun.”

Donovan pulled his index finger against the trigger 10 times.

He didn’t aim for specific body parts. He just pointed and began to fire at the centre of Parker’s body.

“When I discharged my firearm, I kept pulling that trigger until I saw his gun drop. It happened extremely quickly, about three seconds and 10 rounds were fired. In my mind, the first four or so were hitting him in the vest and not stopping him.

“So I then lowered my gun in an attempt to stop him outside of the vest.”

Donovan said Parker moved backwards and sideways while he was being shot.

“I stopped firing, then Const. Parker falls to the ground. And he falls close to his firearm, so my fear now is he can reach out, grab his firearm and shoot me. So I immediately run and kick the gun away from him, so the same direction I’m running, I believe it’s southwest, the same direction I was shooting, I just run, kick it away and pick it up.”

He called dispatch.

“I was attacked by PC Parker. Shots fired. I need an ambulance. I am not hit but he is.”

Parker lay on the ground where he dropped.

He screamed at Donovan.

“Const. Parker is yelling at me to get the f--k out of here. He’s doing a lot of yelling,” Donovan testified.

While Donovan was on the radio with communications, Parker took out his cellphone and made a call.

PARKER

The first shot hit Parker’s face.

“I didn’t hear it. I saw the flash. I jumped back,” Parker said. “It came across my face here, blew my nose off and went into my cheek.”

Parker doesn’t know how long he was on his feet after the shot. He said his nose was hanging by skin.

“I’m sure I was probably in shock at that point because the round that hit me in the face didn’t drop me. I was stunned. I thought half my face was gone because all I saw was blood. My face just exploded in blood. And I couldn’t believe he did it, but it was like, it felt like I’d gotten punched in the face or hit with a baseball bat. That’s what it felt like.”

Parker said that’s when he reached for his sidearm but was shot in the lower abdomen at the bottom of his police belt. The belt, both inner and outer layers, came apart and dropped before he could reach the gun.

“I did not have the gun in my hand. If I did, he would have been shot. I would have returned fire,” Parker said.

“I had nothing in my hands and my thought process at that point was get the F out of here. I turned to my right, I don’t know how many steps I was able to get. But the next, I was on the ground and he was still shooting me. I could feel the rounds hitting me all over.”

The shot to the abdomen was the one that hurt the most. The bullet perforated his bowel. He’d later have reconstruction surgery and be left with shrapnel inside of him.

“It felt like I was on fire inside. Like it was burning. You know the sensation if you take a finger and you touch a pan or something like that and you get a small burn? It felt like that inside, but all over my insides. That’s what put me down.”

He said he could feel the bullets going in him. Two in the calf. The bottom of his right foot. Left elbow. Left shoulder. Left hip. He said 11 rounds were fired.

“I thought I was going to die. I thought this was the end.”

Parker laid on the ground where he dropped, seeing sky. He said Donovan came to him, stood over him, pointing the gun at his face. He thought Donovan was going to finish him off. Execute him. Parker closed his eyes. He’s not sure how much time passed but when he heard another voice he opened his eyes and said he saw Donovan jump away from him.

He’s not sure how he did it, but while lying on the ground, he pulled his phone from his cargo pants pocket and called the woman he was involved with at the time.

“It wasn’t exactly like I could call for help from police, it was police that was trying to kill me,” he said.

“I called her and I said, ‘He just shot me in the f--king face. He’s trying to f--king kill me. Call 911. Please. Just stay on the line and use the landline. Call 911.”

THE AUTHORITIES

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, which probes incidents involving police in which someone is severely injured or killed, sent 11 investigators to the scene, who worked the case for four months.

The SIU confirms parts of both Donovan’s and Parker’s accounts. In a statement of defence in a civil lawsuit, the SIU said the officers “exchanged words,” that Parker left his car and “a physical altercation ensued.” Unidentified witnesses confirmed punches were thrown by both men.

The SIU found Donovan discharged his firearm 10 times, striking Parker at least eight times.

Donovan was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in March 2019.

The charges were dropped by the Crown one year after the shooting, citing “no reasonable prospect of conviction.” There was no trial.

A parallel Ontario Provincial Police investigation had already resulted in Parker being charged in May 2019 with assaulting a police officer, assault with intent to resist arrest and assault with a weapon.

Parker pleaded not guilty when his trial started in September 2021. Donovan was the first Crown witness. During Donovan’s testimony, as stated in an NRP media release, “concerns were raised that Sgt. Donovan may not have been truthful.” The issue related to his use of SIU files in preparing his testimony.

In December 2021, the charges against Parker were stayed by the Crown, who said prosecution was “no longer in the public interest.”

Donovan was charged in November 2022 by Hamilton police with perjury in relation to his testimony. His next court date is in April.

Meanwhile, Parker is facing unrelated charges stemming from an alleged 2022 road rage incident.

Niagara Regional Police spokesperson Stephanie Sabourin confirmed both officers have retired from the service.

Because they are no longer currently serving police officers, she said the Police Act and potential disciplinary charges are not applicable.

The NRP has no jurisdiction over a retired officer.

The police service would not discuss if it has changed any of its procedures or policies as a result of the shooting incident.

Sabourin said because aspects of the matter remain before criminal and civil courts, it would be “inappropriate for the Niagara Regional Police Service to comment.”

Trent University’s Erick Laming, an assistant professor of criminology whose research looks at police use of force, accountability and oversight, said officers retiring or resigning from a service before they face a Police Act disciplinary hearing is not uncommon.

“I came across at least five cases in Ontario in the past several months of officers who have been suspended or who have been on leave, and they’re going up for a police charge and a few days before the hearing, they retire or they resign,” he said.

Parker said he was planning on retiring after 31 years with the service and ended up staying for 33 years.

When officers resign, there’s no jurisdiction over them that the police service has anymore.

Laming said while some provinces have found that problematic, and many are trying to modernize legislation in the past few years dealing with oversight and discipline, he hasn’t seen anything explicit to address it.

“I just think they’re kind of on their own wavelength. They exist kind of in their own bubble. They have their own oversight system that internally that they deal with. And sometimes it’s made public, sometimes it’s not.”

Laming said on the other hand, police can argue they are the most scrutinized profession and there are many levels of overnight. In Ontario, the SIU looks at criminal matters, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director deals with complaints. And the internal police services look at conduct relevant to the Police Act.

“There is a lot of different layers of oversight that exist. It’s just that it’s fragmented in a lot of ways, too.”

DONOVAN

Five years later, the case is continuing to persist through the civil courts.

Donovan is suing the NRP, its board and Parker for $2 million. The lawsuit says the NRP “failed to properly discipline the defendant Parker on previous occurrences when they knew or ought to have known he was dangerous and violent.” The NRP has previously declined comment about the suit.

The lawsuit claims the NRP failed to “warn other officers about this defendant’s violent temper and use of violence” and put measures in place “to protect other officers or the public.”

Statements of defence have not been filed by Parker or the service, but the police services board did give notice that it intends to defend the action.

Another $2.5-million lawsuit launched by Donovan against the SIU is claiming a negligent investigation and a false arrest and detainment.

The SIU’s statement of defence denies any act of omission or negligence.

Neither case has a trial date yet.

Donovan says in his civil suit against police the “life-threatening assaults” left him suffering from shock, anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Being charged by the SIU “irreparably” damaged his reputation as a police officer. He lost promotion opportunities and considerable out-of-pocket expenses because of the criminal prosecution.

PARKER

Parker’s last recollection of that day is of being in the ambulance while his clothes were being cut off of him.

He woke up three days later in Hamilton General Hospital. He was there for 12 days.

The scars of that day aren’t visible at first glance. An indentation at the bottom of his nose is visible when he lifts his head.

When the attempted murder charges were dropped, Parker said he fell into severe depression. He said he’s still coping with it along with PTSD.

Most days he’s pretty good. On bad days he doesn’t function well and just has to sleep.

He’s seeing a psychologist who deals with first responders who have been through severe trauma.

On Oct. 1 he retired from the job. At 57, he’s looking for a part-time job that has value but not the conflict or responsibility that comes with the badge.

He said he’s tried contacting law firms across the province about a civil case but hasn’t found anyone willing to take it on.

“I never got assistance to correct this wrong.”

How is he still alive?

“A lot of people have asked me that. I kind of tally it up as just saying a little bit of luck and it wasn’t my time. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’m still here. I survived. Not without problems, health issues … but I’m still here.”

EPILOGUE

As the Parker and Donovan saga continues in the various courts, one other case was resolved.

The driver of the car that collided with the tree on Roland Road and burst into flames was found not guilty of two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm in January 2022.

The judge said she was left with a reasonable doubt as to his guilt due to an “absence of evidence.”

At issue was whether the driver’s speed at the time of the crash equated to dangerous driving.

She said the NRP’s failure to send a reconstruction unit to the scene on the night of the crash to examine the vehicle and the air-bag module, which would have recorded how fast the car was travelling when it crashed, was detrimental to the Crown’s case.

TIMELINE

Nov. 12, 2018 – A 19-year-old driver loses control of his car and collides head-on with a tree on Roland Road in Pelham. He and a front-seat passenger escape from the fiery wreck but a 19-year-old woman trapped in the back is pulled from the burning car by a passerby. Police do not send a collision reconstruction unit.

Nov. 29, 2018 — The NRP collision reconstruction unit, headed by Det. Sgt. Shane Donovan, goes to the scene of the Nov. 12 crash near 200 Roland Rd. at the request of the Crown’s office to gather evidence. Const. Nathan Parker is assigned to assist with closing the road at Effingham Street. At about noon, Parker and Donovan get into an altercation and Parker is shot multiple times.

March 28, 2019 – Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit announces it has laid charges against Donovan — attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon — in relation to the Pelham incident.

May 22, 2019 — Ontario Provincial Police charge Parker with assaulting a police officer, assault with intent to resist arrest and assault with a weapon in relation to the Pelham incident.

Nov. 22, 2019 – The Crown drops the case against Donovan citing “no reasonable prospect of conviction.”

Nov. 10, 2020 — Donovan files a $2-million lawsuit against the NRP, NRP board and Parker. He later files a $2.5-million civil suit against the SIU.

Sept. 14, 2021 – The trial against Parker starts in Hamilton. It continues for a few days, is adjourned and then a publication ban is imposed.

Dec. 20, 2021 – The Crown stays the charges against Parker, citing they are “no longer in the public interest.”

Jan. 28, 2022 —A judge finds the driver in the Nov. 12, 2018, Pelham crash not guilty of two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, citing flawed police work. The judge said the Crown’s case was hurt because the police did not send a reconstruction unit to the scene the night of the crash and did not recover the airbag module from the wreckage, which would have contained data on the speed the car was travelling.

Aug. 17, 2022 — Parker is charged with assault and mischief by Halton Regional Police in relation to an alleged road rage incident in St. Catharines on July 21, 2022. The case is still before the courts.

Nov. 15, 2022 — Donovan is charged with perjury by Hamilton Police in relation to allegations about which SIU files he accessed before testifying in the Parker trial. The case is still before the courts.