Director's Report Details

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.

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.

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 the serious injury of a 34-year-old woman (the “Complainant”).

Notification of the SIU[1]

On February 17, 2025, at 9:51 a.m., the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Kenora Detachment contacted the SIU with the following information.

On February 16, 2025, at 5:01 a.m. [Central Standard Time (CST)], the OPP received a 911 call from a Civilian Witness (CW), who reported being assaulted by the Complainant. Subject Official (SO) #1, Witness Official (WO) #1 and SO #2 attended the residence in the area of Main Street South and Veterans Drive, Kenora. A statement was obtained from the CW and grounds were formed to arrest the Complainant for assault. The Complainant resisted when the officers attempted to take her into custody. Eventually, her hands were handcuffed behind the back, and she was walked out of the apartment and down a flight of stairs to ground-level. About three or four steps from the bottom, the Complainant stumbled and fell. She was picked up without any apparent concern or mention of injury. The Complainant was placed in an OPP cruiser and transported to the Kenora Detachment where she was held for a bail hearing. At about 11:00 a.m., the Complainant attended her bail hearing and was released on conditions not to contact the CW or attend the residence in Kenora where she had been arrested. The Complainant subsequently left the detachment around 12:00 p.m. At about 8:15 p.m., the CW called the OPP to report that the Complainant had returned to the residence and attempted to talk to him. Upon the arrival of OPP officers, the Complainant had departed. Officers received information that the Complainant had been involved in an altercation at a local bar prior to the arrival of officers. Later that evening, on an unrelated incident, Officer #1 was at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital (LWDH) in Kenora where the Complainant was seated in the Emergency Unit, her left arm in a sling. The Complainant was arrested for breach of a release order, and she was guarded until her examination was complete. The Complainant was examined and, after X-rays, diagnosed with a mid-humerus fracture of the left arm.

The Team

Date and time team dispatched: 2025/02/17 at 1:43 p.m.

Date and time SIU arrived on scene: 2025/02/18 at 1:00 p.m.

Number of SIU Investigators assigned: 3

Number of SIU Forensic Investigators assigned: 0

Affected Person (aka “Complainant”):

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

The Complainant was interviewed on February 20, 2025.

Civilian Witness

CW Not interviewed (declined)

Subject Officials

SO #1 Declined interview, as is the subject official’s legal right; notes received and reviewed

SO #2 Declined interview, as is the subject official’s legal right; notes received and reviewed

Witness Officials (WO)

WO #1 Interviewed; notes received and reviewed

WO #2 Interviewed; notes received and reviewed

WO #3 Interviewed; notes received and reviewed

WO #4 Interviewed; notes received and reviewed

WO #5 Not interviewed; notes reviewed and interview deemed unnecessary

The witness officials were interviewed between March 5, 2025, and March 25, 2025.

Service Employee Witness (SEW)

SEW Interviewed

The service employee witness was interviewed on March 13, 2025.

The Scene

The events in question transpired in a stairwell of a building located in the area of Main Street South and Veterans Drive, Kenora.

Video/Audio/Photographic Evidence[2]

OPP In-car Camera (ICC) Footage – SO #1’s Cruiser [Times Denoted in Eastern Standard Time (EST)]

On February 16, 2025, starting at about 6:14 a.m., the Complainant was placed in the rear of SO #1’s cruiser. Her hands were handcuffed behind the back. She complained about the handcuffs hurting and wanted them removed. The Complainant was clearly intoxicated.

Starting at about 6:23 a.m., the Complainant was removed from the cruiser by SO #1 without incident.

OPP Booking and Cell Footage [Times Denoted in EST]

On February 16, 2025, starting at about 6:25:00 a.m., the Complainant was escorted into the detachment by three uniform OPP officers. Her hands were handcuffed behind the back. The Complainant sat on a bench and held her left upper arm with her right hand.

The Complainant was stood up and put up against a wall by the officers. She put her right arm up on the wall in front of her, and her left arm was lifted towards the wall by a female officer. The Complainant’s left arm remained down at her side during the subsequent search.

Starting at about 6:30:02 a.m., the Complainant was placed in a cell and the window cover was closed. The Complainant held her left arm and favoured it while crying. The Complainant knocked on the cell door, still crying, favouring her left arm and holding it with her right hand.

Starting at about 8:29:03 a.m., the Complainant was removed from the cell for the purposes of talking to duty counsel. She was relodged a few minutes later. The Complainant attempted to lay down in various positions while favouring her left arm.

Starting at about 10:34:13 a.m., a female officer opened the cell door and talked with the Complainant.

Starting at about 11:56:21 a.m., the Complainant was removed from the cell by a male officer. She held her left arm with her right hand.

Starting at about 1:00 p.m., the Complainant was removed from the cell to be released from custody. She was holding her left arm.

Police Communication Recordings

At 5:59 a.m., February 16, 2025, the CW called 911 and reported that his girlfriend [the Complainant] was fighting with him. The dispatcher attempted to gather further information during the four-minute telephone call, which was eventually disconnected.

The OPP dispatcher called back and learned the problem was at an address in the area of Main Street South and Veterans Drive.

SO #1, SO #2 and WO #1 were dispatched.

SO #1 advised he was on scene.

WO #1 advised that a female was in custody.

Materials Obtained from Police Service

Upon request, the SIU obtained the following records from the OPP between February 19, 2025, and February 28, 2025.

• Computer-aided Dispatch Report
• Communications recordings
• General, Supplementary and Arrest Reports
• ICC footage – SO #1
• Custody footage
• Booking and Lodging Reports
• Notes – SO #1, SO #2, WO #2, WO #4, WO #3, WO #1, and WO #5
• CW statement regarding domestic assault

Materials Obtained from Other Sources

The SIU obtained the Complainant’s medical records from LWDH on March 3, 2025.

The evidence collected by the SIU, including interviews with the Complainant and police witnesses, gives rise to the following scenario. As was their legal right, neither subject official agreed an interview with the SIU. They did authorize the release of their notes to the SIU.

The Complainant was arrested the morning of February 16, 2025, in an apartment in the area of Main Street South and Veterans Drive, Kenora. A resident of the unit – the CW – had called police to report a domestic disturbance between him and his partner, the Complainant. The SO #1 and SO #2 took a heavily intoxicated Complainant into custody and handcuffed her hands behind the back. While escorting her down a flight of stairs from the second-floor to ground-level, the Complainant lost her footing and fell near the bottom of the stairwell. The officers helped the Complainant to her feet, escorted her to a cruiser, and transported her to the station.

The Complainant complained of an injury to her left arm while being booked and placed in a cell. She was released following a bail hearing. Early on the next morning of February 17, 2025, she was diagnosed at the hospital with a fractured left humerus.

Sections 219 and 221, Criminal Code - Criminal Negligence Causing Bodily Harm

219 (1) Every one is criminally negligent who

(a) in doing anything, or

(b) in omitting to do anything that it is his duty to do,

shows wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons.

(2) For the purposes of this section, duty means a duty imposed by law.

221 Every person who by criminal negligence causes bodily harm to another person is guilty of

(a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years; or

(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

The Complainant was seriously injured while in the custody of the OPP on February 16, 2025. The SIU was notified of the incident and initiated an investigation, naming the two arresting officers – SO #1 and SO #2 – subject officials. The investigation is now concluded. On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that either officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the Complainant’s arrest and injury.

The offence that arises for consideration is criminal negligence causing bodily harm contrary to section 221 of the Criminal Code. The offence is reserved for serious cases of neglect that demonstrate a wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons. It is predicated, in part, on conduct that amounts to a marked and substantial departure from the level of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in the circumstances. In the instant case, the question is whether there was a want of care on the part of one or both of the subject officials, sufficiently egregious to attract criminal sanction, that caused or contributed to the Complainant’s injury. In my view, there was not.

The Complainant appears to have been lawfully in police custody through the events in question. Having spoken to the CW at the scene, and apprised of the information that had come through the 911 call, SO #1 and SO #2 had a legitimate basis to arrest the Complainant for assault.

I am also satisfied that SO #1 and SO #2 did not transgress the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law in their dealings with the Complainant. Aware that the Complainant’s descent down a flight of stairs was going to be tricky given her level of intoxication, the officers did what they could to mitigate that risk by positioning themselves slightly behind and in front of her. They had managed to get down safely to the final few steps when the Complainant regrettably stumbled and fell, likely fracturing her arm at this time. While the officers were unable to prevent the Complainant’s fall, it would not appear that it was from a lack of reasonable efforts on their part.

For the foregoing reasons, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case.

Date: June 12, 2025

Electronically approved by

Joseph Martino

Director

Special Investigations Unit