SIU Director’s Report - Case # 24-OCI-250

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Mandate of the SIU

The Special Investigations Unit is a civilian law enforcement agency that investigates incidents involving an official where there has been death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm at a person or an allegation of sexual assault. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, 2019 (SIU Act), officials are defined as police officers, special constables of the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers under the Legislative Assembly Act. The SIU’s jurisdiction covers more than 50 municipal, regional and provincial police services across Ontario.

Under the SIU Act, the Director of the SIU must determine based on the evidence gathered in an investigation whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal offence was committed. If such grounds exist, the Director has the authority to lay a criminal charge against the official. Alternatively, in cases where no reasonable grounds exist, the Director cannot lay charges. Where no charges are laid, a report of the investigation is prepared and released publicly, except in the case of reports dealing with allegations of sexual assault, in which case the SIU Director may consult with the affected person and exercise a discretion to not publicly release the report having regard to the affected person’s privacy interests.

Information Restrictions

Special Investigations Unit Act, 2019

Pursuant to section 34, certain information may not be included in this report. This information may include, but is not limited to, the following:

  • The name of, and any information identifying, a subject official, witness official, civilian witness or affected person.
  • Information that may result in the identity of a person who reported that they were sexually assaulted being revealed in connection with the sexual assault.
  • Information that, in the opinion of the SIU Director, could lead to a risk of serious harm to a person.
  • Information that discloses investigative techniques or procedures.
  • Information, the release of which is prohibited or restricted by law.
  • Information in which a person’s privacy interest in not having the information published clearly outweighs the public interest in having the information published.

Freedom of Information and Protection of Personal Privacy Act

Pursuant to section 14 (i.e., law enforcement), certain information may not be included in this report. This information may include, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Confidential investigative techniques and procedures used by law enforcement agencies; and
  • Information that could reasonably be expected to interfere with a law enforcement matter or an investigation undertaken with a view to a law enforcement proceeding.

Pursuant to section 21 (i.e., personal privacy), protected personal information is not included in this report. This information may include, but is not limited to, the following:

  • The names of persons, including civilian witnesses, and subject and witness officials;
  • Location information;
  • Witness statements and evidence gathered in the course of the investigation provided to the SIU in confidence; and
  • Other identifiers which are likely to reveal personal information about individuals involved in the investigation.

Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004

Pursuant to this legislation, any information related to the personal health of identifiable individuals is not included.

Other proceedings, processes, and investigations

Information may also have been excluded from this report because its release could undermine the integrity of other proceedings involving the same incident, such as criminal proceedings, coroner’s inquests, other public proceedings and/or other law enforcement investigations.

Mandate Engaged

Pursuant to section 15 of the SIU Act, the SIU may investigate the conduct of officials, be they police officers, special constables of the Niagara Parks Commission or peace officers under the Legislative Assembly Act, that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.

A person sustains a “serious injury” for purposes of the SIU’s jurisdiction if they: sustain an injury as a result of which they are admitted to hospital; suffer a fracture to the skull, or to a limb, rib or vertebra; suffer burns to a significant proportion of their body; lose any portion of their body; or, as a result of an injury, experience a loss of vision or hearing.

In addition, a “serious injury” means any other injury sustained by a person that is likely to interfere with the person’s health or comfort and is not transient or trifling in nature.

This report relates to the SIU’s investigation into serious injuries sustained by a 32-year-old woman (the “Complainant”).

The Investigation

Notification of the SIU[1]

On June 13, 2024, at 3:25 p.m., the Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) notified the SIU of an injury to the Complainant.

According to the NRPS, on May 27, 2024, they received a public complaint from the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA) in relation to an injury from April 11, 2024. The Complainant reported that she was at the Niagara Health – St. Catharines Site (NH-SCS) when, asked to leave by hospital staff, she refused. The NRPS were called, and a male and a female police officer attended [now known to be the Subject Official (SO) and the Witness Official (WO)]. The officers arrested the Complainant. The SO reportedly applied the handcuffs very tight, causing a fracture to the Complainant’s fifth metacarpal of her right hand.

The Team

Date and time team dispatched: 2024/06/14 at 10:57 a.m.

Date and time SIU arrived on scene: 2024/06/14 at 1:29 p.m.

Number of SIU Investigators assigned: 3

Number of SIU Forensic Investigators assigned: 0

Affected Person (aka “Complainant”):

32-year-old female; interviewed; medical records obtained and reviewed

The Complainant was interviewed on June 17, 2024.

Subject Official

SO Declined interview and to provide notes, as is the subject official’s legal right

Witness Official

WO Interviewed

The WO was interviewed June 21, 2024.

Evidence

The Scene

The events in question transpired inside the NH-SCS mental health services waiting area, 1200 Fourth Avenue, St. Catharines.

Video/Audio/Photographic Evidence[2]

NRPS Communications Radio Recordings

On April 11, 2024, at 3:28 p.m., NH-SCS security requested that NRPS assist with the Complainant, who was threatening violence and refusing to leave. The SO and WO were dispatched and arrived at 3:39 p.m. The police dispatcher indicated that the Complainant had cautions for violence.

At 4:10 p.m., the WO reported a struggle with the Complainant, who was heard yelling in the background. The WO reported that security officers were present and that everything was okay.

At 4:17 p.m., the SO reported that the Complainant had been apprehended under the Mental Health Act.

Video Footage - NH-SCS Security

The waiting room of the mental health services area was captured by NH-SCS security camera. SIU requested a copy of the footage; however, NH-SCS required a Production Order to release the recording. The regional manager did permit SIU investigators to review the footage in person, but refused to allow any recording of the interaction.

The recording commenced on April 11, 2024, at 2:53 p.m. There was no audio, though the Complainant appeared animated in her conversation with a staff member over a reception counter.

At 3:06 p.m., six NH-SCS security officers arrived and stood out of camera view. The Complainant sat on the blue chair as she spoke with security.

At 3:34 p.m., the SO and WO arrived and spoke to the Complainant.

At 3:55 p.m., the Complainant stood up and started to remove her shirt. The SO held the Complainant’s right wrist, and the WO held her left wrist. The three moved back up against the wall. The security officers assisted, each trying to hold a limb as the Complainant struggled against their efforts. The SO handcuffed the Complainant’s hands behind her back and held her against the wall. The Complainant slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

At 4:04 p.m., the SO and WO, with the assistance of security officers, stood the Complainant up to attempt to take her to a waiting gurney. The Complainant dropped herself backwards, onto the ground, likely landing on her hands behind her back. She was lifted and assisted onto the gurney, and secured at the ankles and waist with bed restraints. The SO appeared to have difficulty removing the handcuffs and required the Complainant to sit up and lean forward to remove them. Once the handcuffs were removed, security officers secured the Complainant’s wrists with bed restraints.

At 4:11 p.m., the Complainant was wheeled out of camera view.

Materials Obtained from Police Service

On June 17, 2024, the SIU obtained the following records from NRPS:

  • Communications recordings;
  • Computer-aided Dispatch Report;
  • General Occurrence Report;
  • Photographs;
  • Notebook entries of the WO; and
  • NRPS policies for arrest, use of force and mentally ill persons.

Materials Obtained from Other Sources

The SIU obtained the following records from the following other sources between June 17, 2024, and August 8, 2024:

  • Photographs - the Complainant; and
  • Security Report – NH-SCS Security.

Incident Narrative

The evidence collected by the SIU, including an interview with the Complainant and a police witness, and video footage that captured the incident in parts, gives rise to the following scenario. As was her legal right, the SO did not agree an interview with the SIU or the release of her notes.

In the afternoon of April 11, 2024, the SO and the WO were dispatched to the NH - SCS following a call by hospital security. The Complainant was causing a disturbance and refusing to leave.

The officers encountered the Complainant in a waiting area and directed her to leave. The Complainant demurred but eventually agreed to leave if she was seen by a doctor. Told that she would have to be triaged in the emergency department first, the Complainant was insistent. She said she would start taking her clothes off if a doctor did not attend, and then started doing just that.

The SO and WO intervened and placed the Complainant under arrest. The Complainant resisted as the officers tried to handcuff her hands behind the back. Hospital security present in the area assisted the officers in controlling the Complainant and she was handcuffed. The Complainant dropped to the floor of her own volition, was stood up by the officers, and then dropped to the floor again, landing on her back. She was stood up again and restrained on a gurney, after which the SO removed the handcuffs.

The Complainant subsequently attended hospital on April 22, 2024, and was diagnosed with a right hand fracture.

Relevant Legislation

Section 25(1), Criminal Code - Protection of Persons Acting under Authority

25 (1) Every one who is required or authorized by law to do anything in the administration or enforcement of the law

(a) as a private person,

(b) as a peace officer or public officer,

(c) in aid of a peace officer or public officer, or

(d) by virtue of his office,

is, if he acts on reasonable grounds, justified in doing what he is required or authorized to do and in using as much force as is necessary for that purpose.

Section 175 (1), Criminal Code – Causing a Disturbance

175 (1) Every one who

(a) not being in a dwelling-house, causes a disturbance in or near a public place,

(i) by fighting, screaming, shouting, swearing, singing or using insulting language,

(ii) by being drunk,

(iii) by impeding or molesting other persons,

Is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Section 2(1), Trespass to Property Act - Trespass an offence

2 (1) Every person who is not acting under a right or authority conferred by law and who,

(a)does not leave the premises immediately after he or she is directed to do so by the occupier of the premises or a person authorized by the occupier,

is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $10,000.

Section 9, Trespass to Property Act – Arrest without Warrant on Premises

9 (1) A police officer, or the occupier of premises, or a person authorized by the occupier may arrest without warrant any person he or she believes on reasonable and probable grounds to be on the premises in contravention of section 2.

Section 17, Mental Health Act - Action by Police Officer

17 Where a police officer has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that a person is acting or has acted in a disorderly manner and has reasonable cause to believe that the person,

(a) has threatened or attempted or is threatening or attempting to cause bodily harm to himself or herself;

(b) has behaved or is behaving violently towards another person or has caused or is causing another person to fear bodily harm from him or her; or

(c) has shown or is showing a lack of competence to care for himself or herself,

and in addition the police officer is of the opinion that the person is apparently suffering from mental disorder of a nature or quality that likely will result in,

(d) serious bodily harm to the person;

(e) serious bodily harm to another person; or

(f) serious physical impairment of the person,

and that it would be dangerous to proceed under section 16, the police officer may take the person in custody to an appropriate place for examination by a physician.

Analysis and Director’s Decision

On April 11, 2024, the Complainant was seriously injured in the course of her arrest by NRPS officers in St. Catharines. The SIU was notified of the incident and initiated an investigation naming the SO the subject official. The investigation is now concluded. On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the SO committed a criminal offence in connection with the Complainant’s arrest and injury.

Pursuant to section 25(1) of the Criminal Code, police officers are immune from criminal liability for force used in the course of their duties provided such force was reasonably necessary in the execution of an act that they were required or authorized to do by law.

The Complainant had been given a reasonable opportunity to leave the premises as requested. Instead, she remained in place and began to take her clothes off. On this record, the Complainant was subject to arrest for trespass under section 9(1) of the Trespass to Property Act and/or causing a disturbance contrary to section 175 of the Criminal Code. Though the WO spoke of apprehending the Complainant under the Mental Health Act, and what would have been section 17 of that statute, I am satisfied that considerations relevant to the Complainant’s refusal to leave were also operative in the officers’ minds given the circumstances as they unfolded.

As for the force used on the Complainant, I am unable to reasonably conclude that any of it was excessive and unlawful. The officers did use some force to grapple with the Complainant in order to bring her under control, but this was made necessary by her physical resistance to arrest. No strikes of any kind were delivered. Nor is there sufficient evidence to reasonably conclude that the handcuffs were applied too tightly, and then subsequently removed by the SO in a reckless fashion so as to cause injury.

It remains unclear when precisely the Complainant broke her hand. Given the Complainant’s preexisting injury to the same hand, and the fracture diagnosis 11 days after the events in question, it is possible that the injury was incurred either before or after her run-in with the police on April 11, 2024. Be that as it may, as there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the SO comported herself other than lawfully in her engagement with the Complainant, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges. The file is closed.

Date: September 26, 2024

Electronically approved by

Joseph Martino

Director

Special Investigations Unit

Endnotes

  • 1) Unless otherwise specified, the information in this section reflects the information received by the SIU at the time of notification and does not necessarily reflect the SIU’s findings of fact following its investigation. [Back to text]
  • 2) The following records contain sensitive personal information and are not being released pursuant to section 34(2) of the Special Investigations Unit Act, 2019. The material portions of the records are summarized below. [Back to text]

Note:

The signed English original report is authoritative, and any discrepancy between that report and the French and English online versions should be resolved in favour of the original English report.