News Release
SIU Concludes Injury Investigation in Wiarton
Case Number: 13-PCI-196
Mississauga (16 September, 2013) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge any Ontario Provincial Police officer with a criminal offence in relation to the injuries sustained by a 37-year-old man last month.
The SIU assigned three investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, three witness officers and three civilian witnesses were interviewed. Two of the subject officers declined to be interviewed by the SIU and did not provide their duty notes, as is their legal right. The third subject officer also declined to be interviewed but did provide his duty notes.
The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Thursday, August 8, 2013:
• At approximately 7 p.m., a man allegedly committed an armed robbery at a store in Saugeen First Nations and fled in a vehicle. Police were provided with details of the incident, a license plate number and car description.
• Police engaged in a suspect apprehension pursuit and were able to arrest the man on Silver Lake Road in Wiarton. The man was ordered out of his vehicle by one of the subject officers, and told to put his hands on his head. He did as he was told, and laid on the ground of his own accord. His hands were then handcuffed behind his back.
• In the handcuffing process the man’s left wrist was fractured.
Director Scott said, “The subject officers had the lawful authority to arrest the man for robbery and gun-related offences based upon the information they had received from their dispatch, and use reasonable force to effect that arrest. Given that the information included probable possession of a handgun, it was reasonable for the subject officers to handcuff his hands behind his back. While it is likely that the man’s wrist was fractured by one of the subject officers during the arrest process, it is unclear to me whether that force was excessive, given the dynamic, potentially high risk, situation surrounding this arrest. All in all, I cannot form reasonable grounds that the force used during this lawful arrest was excessive.”
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