Charles ‘Charlie’ Steeves
Served 1977-2011
Charlie Steeves’ introduction to police work began when he joined the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in 1975, followed by the Hamilton Wentworth Regional Police in 1977.
On January 25th, 1978, Charlie was working with Constable Frank Bogdan, on an afternoon shift, when they were sent to an “assist the ambulance call” at 62 Alanson Street, Hamilton, where a man was threatening suicide by shooting himself, although the dispatcher said there were no firearms in the house.
Constable Kenneth “Stew” Jones, a trained member of the newly formed Tactical Emergency Assault Men “TEAM” (later renamed Emergency Response Unit), who was doing a traffic stop a few blocks away, thought that was a very strange call and, of his own volition, went over to help.
Charlie and Frank were first to arrive at the house, where they met the man’s parents from whom they learned that their son, occupied a small apartment in the attic, was being disruptive and they wanted him out.
The officers also established that the son’s apartment was comprised of a living room/bedroom on the north side, a kitchen on the south side and a bathroom, in which he was ensconced, between the two at the top of a flight of stairs.
Constable Bogdan, who is bi-lingual, first tried to talk him into leaving the bathroom both in English and Hungarian (because the man happened to have Hungarian ancestry), but without success.
While the preliminaries were transpiring, Constable Jones arrived, notified the dispatcher, entered the house and made his way up the stairs. When he reached the second floor of the home, he saw Charlie and Frank near the bathroom door, engaged in conversation with the person inside the room.
When he reached the door of a kitchen, which was on his right, he saw a box of 12Gauge shotgun shells on top of the fridge. Suddenly all three officers heard several metallic sounds in a row, which concerned everyone. Acting on a word of warning from Stew, they all stepped away, with Frank moving into the bedroom and Stew and Charlie into the kitchen.
Charlie was just inside the kitchen, to the right of the doorway, with Stew slightly to his left and about three feet behind him, when the first shot rang out. The round hit the kitchen door frame, lodging there, just at the height of Charlie’s head, followed by a second that came through the kitchen wall just slightly above mid-waist height. That round hit Charlie’s belt on his right side, gouging the leather and continued on through his jacket.
Immediately, Charlie and Stew moved further into the kitchen taking prone positions on the floor facing the doorway, pointing their firearms at that direction, when a third round came through the wall, passing above their heads. Stew called the dispatcher announcing “Shots fired! Shots fired! 1078,1078!” in an urgent call for further assistance.
At the same time Charlie was struggling with his coat telling Stew to watch the door as his radio had shifted and was jabbing him in the torso. While Charlie worked to slide the radio around on his belt, Stew noticed that Charlie’s revolver was now pointed toward him instead of toward the doorway. Since Charlie was unaware of where his weapon was pointed, Stew reached out and gently moved it aside.
When that danger was addressed, they both started laughing out loud, catching the subject’s attention again, and causing him to shout, “What’s going on, are you hurting my mother?” They said nothing, but instead, sought more cover, using a full-sized fridge which Charlie, while still on his knees, tipped over onto the floor.
The incident went on for what felt like a long time to the officers. The culprit told them that they would have to shoot him because he was going to shoot them if they did not.
After a period of time, he came to the kitchen door sobbing and muttering while Constable Bogdan kept talking to him, which was when the officers actually saw a rifle in his hands. He pointed it at Constable Bogdan, and said, “I am going to count to ten and start shooting.”
As he was counting down, Charlie and Stew moved slightly, and the man started to move into the kitchen. As he did so, he pointed the muzzle towards the ceiling for a split second. Charlie suddenly jumped up and grabbed the rifle, keeping it pointed up and allowing all three officers to overpower him.
The incident could have been a lot worse, because, when the weapon, which turned out to be a .223 calibre rifle, was examined, a live round was found to have been inserted backward, thereby jamming the mechanism.
In this case, the man was obviously suffering from some sort of mental health emergency, but the cool-headedness and professionalism of the officers, who were in mortal danger from a gunman they could not see, managed to prevent a tragedy from occurring.
Ultimately, the man was convicted of “Dangerous Use of a Firearm”.
On February 10th, as a result of their exemplary actions, Charlie, Frank and Stew received a commendation from Chief Gordan Torrence in recognition of their performance.
Charlie was a wonderful man, very athletic and a versatile sportsman as can be seen from his appearance in various team pictures.
Back Row: Howard Holt, Jimmy Sanderson, Gale Visser, ‘import’, Dave Fearnside, George Roach, Jack McFarland, Wilf Heane, ?, Jack Sutton, Frank Venturelli
Front Row: George Giacenti, Bill Stewart, Kevin Mushing Batboy, Bill Cox, Peter Couture, Charlie Steeves
In 2011, after a full and rewarding career, Charlie retired with the rank of Sergeant.