News Release
No Grounds to Criminally Charge OPP Officer After Man Breaks Wrist in Quinte West Cell
Case Number: 22-PCI-215
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that an Ontario Provincial Police officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the broken left wrist suffered by a 60-year-old man at the Quinte West Detachment. On August 5, the man was arrested for impaired driving following a collision in Trenton. While lodged in a cell, the man prevented an officer from closing the cell door and the officer put his hand on the man’s chest to move him away. The man lost his footing on wet flooring and fell backwards, fracturing his wrist. The next morning the man attempted to harm himself and a struggle ensued where one officer delivered several knee and hand strikes, and another officer repeatedly deployed his Conducted Energy Weapon before he was handcuffed.
In the result, Director Martino concluded there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the subject official, or the other officers who struggled with the man in the cell, comported themselves other than lawfully, leaving no basis for proceeding with criminal charges.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision):
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
Lisez ce communiqué en français.
Kristy Denette, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES