News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Man’s Arrest at Dufferin Mall
Case Number: 25-TCI-096
In the evening of March 11, 2025, a Toronto Police Service officer was working a paid-duty providing security at a store in Dufferin Mall when he was alerted to a theft in progress. The store’s non-police security officers had detected a customer leaving the store with unpaid merchandise. When one of the non-police security officers confronted the 37-year-old male customer, a struggle ensued. The officer and the other non-police security officer intervened in the struggle. The man attempted to escape outside the store but had not gone very far before he was struck in the back by the probes of a conducted energy weapon discharged by the officer. The man immediately locked-up and fell face first onto the pavement, breaking his nose in the process. He was arrested and sent to hospital where he was treated for his injury. On his assessment of the evidence, SIU Director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s arrest and injury.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (municipal, regional and provincial police officers, police officers with the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, 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
Lisez ce communiqué en français.
Monica Hudon, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES