News Release

The Deputy Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Stacey O’Brien, has terminated an investigation into a reported right-hand fracture suffered by a 20-year-old man in Niagara Falls.

On July 23, 2025, the Niagara Regional Police Service notified the SIU that a man they had arrested a week prior had been diagnosed with a serious injury. The man was arrested at the Gale Centre Arena in the evening of July 17, 2025. The arrest occurred following a police pursuit, which began after the man and three other individuals reportedly attempted to break into a residence the police had secured for execution of a search warrant. Police pursued the man to the Gale Centre Arena, where a retired Ontario Provincial Police officer and an officer with Niagara Parks Police, standing outside the entrance, witnessed the pursuit and stepped in to assist the officers. The man was pursued into the arena, during which time the man ran out of, or kicked off his shoes, causing him to lose his footing and fall onto the slippery floor landing on his right hand. No one was in physical contact with the man at the time of the fall. The man was arrested and complained of pain to his right hand. He was transported to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a healing boxer’s fracture to his right hand, showing increased angulation. 

Evidence suggested the man had fractured his right hand on April 30, 2025. On this record, Deputy Director O’Brien concluded it appeared the man alone was responsible for his injury.