News Release
SIU Determines No Basis to Proceed with Criminal Charges in Relation to Windsor Arrest
Case Number: 25-OCI-193
In the evening of May 13, 2025, Windsor Police Service officers attended an apartment building where they arrested a 35-year-old man, handcuffing him behind the back. The man was escorted out the building and into a prisoner transport van. While in the van, the man started to bang his forehead off a wall. He was removed from the cruiser by an officer and seated on a bench while they waited for an ambulance to arrive to assess the man for any injuries he might have caused himself. The man started to strike his forehead with the top of his legs, prompting one of the officers to restrain him from doing so. At the hospital while seated on a stretcher in the emergency department, the man again struck his head off a wall. The officer prevented him from continuing to do so by holding him down on the stretcher. The man was eventually diagnosed with a broken nose. 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 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.
Kristy Denette, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES