Manitoba’s police watchdog is not recommending charges against a Winnipeg police officer who fatally shot a passenger in a stolen pickup truck almost two years ago south of the city.
At least 20 shots were fired by two officers, the majority happening as the truck drove toward the police cruiser and rammed it.
However, the fatal shot was fired as the truck was driving away, hitting the man in the back of the head, according to the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba’s nine-page report released Monday.
The victim was later identified as Tristian Mariash, 30. He had also been struck in the abdomen by another bullet, the IIU report states.
Both shots that hit Mariash were fired from the same officer’s gun.
An expert consulted by the IIU during its investigation “expressed some concerns” about the officer shooting as the truck drove away because “other options could have been considered at the time.”
But ultimately, the opinion of the Manitoba Prosecution Service was that reasonable doubt existed as to whether the use of force was excessive. And without a reasonable likelihood of conviction, the advice was to not pursue charges against the office, the IIU report says.
In the early morning hours of June 5, 2024, police in Manitoba had been alerted by Saskatchewan RCMP about a stolen Ford F-350 eastbound on Highway 1. It was also believed the occupants, who had a criminal history, were armed with a shotgun.
Winnipeg police spotted the truck in the St. James area and followed while calling in support from the Air-1 helicopter. The truck was on the west Perimeter Highway when Air-1 made contact and tracked it along rural roads south of Winnipeg.
The truck eventually stopped in the parking lot of Providence University College in Otterburne.
A Winnipeg police cruiser with bullet holes in the windshield is parked at the side of the highway south of Niverville on June 5, 2024. (Meaghan Ketcheson/CBC)
As the Winnipeg police cruiser arrived, the truck drove into it, pushing in backwards.
The officers opened fire through their windshield. One officer then got out as the truck manoeuvred around the cruiser, and shot at the passenger side and then at the back of the fleeing vehicle, according to the IIU report.
A total of 14 bullets hit the truck’s front windshield, including five that struck the driver’s side with the rest hitting the middle area. Five more hit the the passenger’s side window or door.
No total was given for how many were fired from behind.
Air-1 tracked the truck to Niverville, about 20 kilometres south of Winnipeg, where it stopped in the parking lot of a shared Tim Hortons restaurant and Shell gas station.
The driver, later identified as David Frank Burling, then 29, got out and ran into the passenger side of a waiting hatchback vehicle, which sped off.
A woman also got out of the rear passenger side of the truck and tried to run away but was caught by officers who had arrived by then.
Officers found Mariash inside the truck. An ambulance was called but he was pronounced dead before it arrived.
Air-1 attempted to track the hatchback but cut it short due to low fuel. Burling and a woman in the vehicle were arrested near Springside, Sask., about 25 kilometres northwest of Yorkton, later the same day.
Burling was sentenced to 4½ years in prison in July 2025.
David Frank Burling pleaded guilty in July 2025 to assaulting a police officer, fleeing police and driving while prohibited. He was sentenced to 4½ years in prison. (Saskatchewan RCMP)
During its investigation, the IIU considered interviews or statements from the two officers involved in the shooting as well as Burling. It also examined officers’ notes and reports, audio transmissions, video footage from Air-1, a traffic analyst’s report, a firearms report and medical reports.
The IIU also tried to get in contact with the woman from the back passenger’s seat but she could not be located. Instead, it reviewed her statements to RCMP, that officers shot at the truck for a “long time.”
She also said Mariash had been shot as he attempted to protect her from the bullets.
According to Burling, when the truck was facing the cruiser in the parking lot, he asked Mariash what they should do, and they decided to “go for it.”
He drove at the cruiser to move it out of the way and try to escape. Burling estimated he was 10-15 feet from the cruiser when the gunshots “just blew up” the truck’s windshield.
He estimated he was going about 20 km/h and, after he hit the cruiser, he backed up and turned, exposing the passenger’s side. Shots were still being fired as he drove away, and he said he heard Mariash take a sudden deep breath, which he believes was the moment Mariash was hit.
Tristan Mariash, left, and David Frank Burling enjoy a toast in a photo posted to Mariash’s Facebook page March 18, 2024. (Tristan Mariash/Facebook)
The officer who drove the cruiser told the IIU he decided to reverse to allow the truck to pass but the truck abruptly turned towards the cruiser at a high rate of speed. He estimated it was going 70 km/h.
Fearful for their lives, he said, the officers started shooting.
He stopped firing before the truck backed up and left, and said he didn’t see a shotgun or anyone in the truck shooting at any time.
The officer in the passenger seat, who fired the fatal shots, believed the truck was going to ram them a second time so he continued to shoot to stop it, the report states.
Air-1 video footage confirms his account, with shot bursts appearing as “little white lights.” The entire incident is mere seconds in total, the report states.
A traffic analyst report said the cruiser had substantial damage to the front driver’s side and the hood was buckled, but estimated the speed at impact was less than 10 km/h.
“While it is always in the public interest to hold police officers accountable, there must also be a reasonable likelihood of conviction for MPS to prosecute a matter,” the IIU report says.
“In this case, after considering all the evidence, we have concluded that a reasonable doubt exists as to whether the officers’ use of force was excessive.”
The investigation is now complete.