Nine months after a 22-year-old man was shot dead by police in a wooded area near a Turkey Point marina, a Norfolk County Ontario Provincial Police officer has been charged with manslaughter.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit, an independent agency that investigates when Ontarians are killed or seriously injured while interacting with police, deemed there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Const. Quade Odrowski “committed a criminal offence” in the man’s death.
Odrowski was arrested at SIU headquarters in Mississauga on Thursday and charged with one count of manslaughter.
In a report released on Thursday, SIU director Joseph Martino said OPP officers on Lake Erie tried to stop “the operator of a personal watercraft,” on the afternoon of Aug. 12, 2025.
Witnesses told The Spectator the craft was a Sea-Doo.
Instead of heeding the call to stop, the boater sped toward a marina in Turkey Point. He ditched the Sea-Doo between several docked boats and ran into a wooded area.
Officers gave chase. About 30 to 45 minutes later, marina staff heard what sounded like multiple gun shots from the woods, employees told The Spectator.
At the time, the SIU said one officer discharged a firearm and the other used an ARWEN, which launches plastic bullets and other less-lethal projectiles.
It is unclear whether one or both officers struck the victim. Martino’s report on Thursday mentioned one officer discharged a firearm at the man before the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
The SIU report does not explain why officers with the OPP marine unit tried to stop the boater in the first place, why the 22-year-old fled and what happened in the woods to prompt police to open fire.
The police watchdog designated two “subject officials” and four “witness officials” at the outset of the investigation. By law, subject officials do not have to agree to be interviewed, as the SIU has the authority to lay criminal charges.
Witness officers are legally obligated to testify.
Last month, an SIU spokesperson told The Spectator the agency was still waiting on an autopsy report from the province’s Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto.
After his arrest on Thursday, Odrowski was released on an undertaking with conditions. This means he did not spend time in jail awaiting a bail hearing before a judge.
He has a court appearance scheduled for June 2 in Simcoe at 9 a.m.
Odrowski has been an OPP constable since August 2018 and has spent his entire career with the Norfolk detachment, the provincial police service told The Spectator.
The name of the shooting victim remains a mystery.
Court documents filed upon Odrowski’s arrest would typically contain the victim’s name, but those documents will not be made accessible to media and the public until after the accused makes his first court appearance.
In the meantime, the SIU declined further comment “as the matter is before the courts and in consideration of the fair trial interests of the accused.”
In a statement, OPP Association president David Sabatini pledged the police union’s support for Odrowski in the form of providing legal counsel and funding his defence.
“Our members have co-operated with the investigation led by the Special Investigations Unit, as mandated by law,” Sabatini said.
“The upcoming judicial process will be long and stressful and we urge all OPPA members who are impacted by this incident to reach out for professional and/or peer mental health supports.”
By J.P. Antonacci, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on May 18, 2026 at 15:0
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