News Release
SIU Determines Intervention by Officers in Sault Ste. Marie Likely Prevented Man from Self-Inflicting Further Grievous Harm
Case Number: 20-OCI-093
On April 23, 2020, the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service received a call from personnel with the Sault Area Hospital expressing concern about the welfare of a 29-year-old man. Officers were dispatched to the hospital and they located the man in a vehicle. The man drove away, but officers located him soon after when they arrived at his residence. He was observed to be in possession of two knives. When the man made his way down a staircase, an officer positioned behind the man observed the man motioning with one of the knives across his neck. The officer deployed his conducted energy weapon in the man’s back. The man fell forward onto the ground but he continued to cut himself. CEWs were deployed by two officers, and the man was quickly subdued and handcuffed. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe that any 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 (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