Ontario SIU clears OPP officers of excessive force complaint

When police officers are involved in incidents where someone has been seriously injured, dies or alleges sexual assault, the Special Investigations Unit has the statutory mandate to conduct independent investigations to determine whether a criminal offence took place.

Ontario SIU clears OPP officers of excessive force complaint

Postby Thomas » Mon Apr 26, 2021 5:41 pm

The Ontario civilian body charged with investigating complaints against police has cleared Quinte West OPP officers responding to a call Jan. 9 in which a man suffered serious injuries.

In a ruling released Friday, the Special Investigations Unit’s director Joseph Martino said investigation determined there was no criminality in the officers’ actions.

The SIU said that “a 58-year-old man was arrested in Trenton by Ontario Provincial Police officers and subsequently diagnosed at hospital with serious injuries. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the arresting officers committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s arrest and injuries.”

The SIU report stated that “OPP police officers responded to a domestic call involving the complainant and his common-law spouse, the civilian witness, at their residence. OPP police officers arrested the complainant for assault and theft. The complainant resisted and was grounded. He complained of shortness of breath and was transported to Trenton Memorial Hospital by ambulance where he had been diagnosed with a fractured rib and collapsed lung. The complainant had been released on a Form 10.”

In his ruling, Martino wrote that “while it would appear that the complainant’s injuries were incurred in the course of his arrest, perhaps as he was taken to the ground, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that SO #1 and SO #2 [both officers involved] acted other than lawfully in the course of this incident. Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case and the file is closed.”

The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person

All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid publicly report the results of its investigations.

https://www.intelligencer.ca/news/ontar ... -complaint

https://www.thewhig.com/news/ontario-si ... -complaint
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