OPP officer who punched man didn't commit criminal offence:

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.

OPP officer who punched man didn't commit criminal offence:

Postby Thomas » Sat Jun 11, 2022 10:15 am

OPP officer who punched man didn't commit criminal offence: SIU

The province's police watchdog organization says it found no reasonable grounds to believe an Ontario Provincial Police officer who punched a 64-year-old man in the face twice committed a criminal offence.

In early January, OPP officers responded after the man damaged property and threatened staff at a residential health facility in Clarence-Rockland, Ont., according to a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) press release.

Officers arrested the man under the Mental Health Act and for mischief.

The release states the man resisted arrest and attempted to punch one of the officers.

The officer punched the man twice in the face and took him to the floor where the man landed face first.

The SIU's director, Joseph Martino, found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer acted unlawfully when dealing with the man, who suffered facial fractures.

The unit — tasked with investigating police actions that end in serious injury, death, or allegations of sexual assault — launched an investigation after the OPP notified it of the incident on Feb. 3, 2022.

The file is now closed.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/o ... -1.6477970
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Re: OPP officer who punched man didn't commit criminal offen

Postby Thomas » Sat Jun 11, 2022 10:17 am

SIU says no criminal conduct by OPP officer who punched man during arrest in Clarence-Rockland

The Ontario agency that investigates injuries resulting from incidents involving police says there are no grounds to believe an OPP officer who punched a man while arresting him in Clarence-Rockland committed a criminal offence.

The officer punched the 64-year-old man, who received facial fractures, after the man resisted arrest and tried to punch the officer at a secure residential health facility, the Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, said in a news release on Friday.

Martino found there no reasonable grounds to believe the OPP officer had committed a criminal offence.

Police were responding to a call on Jan. 9 about the 64-year-old man damaging property and threatening staff at a private, secure residential health facility, the release said.

The incident happened in a dining room at a locked wing of the facility. Staff cleared out other residents after the man undid a security lock and began smashing and shaking doors, the SIU report added.

The resident was in crisis and had become violent with staff, the report said. Two police officers tried to negotiate with the man, but he was highly agitated, “of unsound mind” and unable to respond coherently when asked his name and what was happening, the report said.

The officers tried to grab the man, according to a summary of a video recording of the incident provided by the home.

The man tried to kick and punch one officer, who responded by punching him twice in the face, the report said.

The man fell to the floor face-first when the officers brought him to the ground, the report said.

The man was arrested under the Mental Health Act and for mischief. He was taken by ambulance to the Montfort Hospital and treated for a cut to his eyes, then held under authority of the Mental Health Act, the report said.

On Feb. 2, the family of the man contacted the OPP with an update on the man’s condition, saying he had two orbital fractures near the cut on his head.

The SIU began its investigation after the OPP notified the agency about the incident on Feb. 3, the release said.

During the SIU investigation, the police officer who punched the man declined to be interviewed or to provide notes. Officers who are the subject of SIU investigations can be asked, but cannot be compelled to be interviewed or provide notes.

The SIU is an independent agency that investigates the conduct of police officers that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person.

https://ottawasun.com/news/local-news/n ... 0407b8eee5
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SIU rules OPP arrest was lawful despite man's injuries

Postby Thomas » Sat Jun 11, 2022 10:18 am

Police arrested a 60-year-old man Sept. 29, 2021 at Trenton Memorial Hospital for sexual assault. Hospital staff called 911 to report the man, who was a patient, had assaulted a nurse.

The man had gone to the hospital “for assessment and treatment related to his mental health,” an SIU report states, describing him as being “highly agitated and unruly” at the time.

Police arrived and took hold of the man’s arms.

“The man resisted arrest and officers took him down to the floor where further force was used to subdue and handcuff the man,” an SIU news release stated. That struggle included “a series of knees and punches” delivered by the officers. One officer also discharged his conducted-energy weapon several times at the man’s legs, the report adds.

Police took the man to Belleville General Hospital. He was admitted for a psychiatric examination and also diagnosed with two broken ribs.

The police service contacted the SIU Feb. 7 “to report that they were in receipt of information” claiming the man had sustained serious injuries, the SIU report states. The unit’s investigation focused on the conduct of one officer.

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, “police officers are immune from criminal liability for force used in the course of their duties provided such force was reasonably necessary in the execution of an act that they were required or authorized to do by law,” the SIU reports.

The arrest was lawful, the SIU’s director, Joseph Martino, ruled.

“There is some evidence that the complainant was repeatedly kneed in the left side and back by the SO (subject officer) though he was handcuffed at the time and offered no resistance,” he writes in his final report.

“If true, this account of what transpired would warrant a charge of assault against the officer. It would be unwise and unsafe, however, to rest charges on the strength of this evidence,” Martino writes.

Martino notes a non-police witness stated the man resisted arrest both while standing and while on the floor by refusing to withdraw his hands from beneath his chest so he could be handcuffed.

Contrary to a claim the officers punched the man repeatedly while outside a police cruiser, the eyewitness made no mention of such activity, Martino adds.

“I am unable to reasonably conclude that the takedown, knee strikes and punches were excessive given the nature and extent of the complainant’s resistance. Once he was handcuffed, no further force was brought to bear.”

https://www.thewhig.com/news/siu-rules- ... s-injuries
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