News Release
SIU Concludes Death Investigation in Ottawa
Case Number: 12-OOD-085
Mississauga (5 April, 2012) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge an officer with the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) with any criminal offence in regards to the death of a 48-year-old man in March of 2012.
The SIU assigned four investigators and one forensic investigator to probe the circumstances of this incident. The subject officer did not provide an interview to the SIU and did not supply a copy of his duty notes, as is his legal right. One witness officer and one civilian witness were interviewed.
The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25:
• In the evening hours of Saturday, OPS received a call from an individual who was concerned about the safety of a man living in the Rockcliffe Park area.
• Officers went to the residence but left after several hours.
• At approximately 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, officers entered the residence and found the man deceased.
Director Scott said, “In my view, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that any involved officer committed a criminal offence in relation to the death of the man. All information gathered in this investigation points to the same conclusion; he took his own life by means of a drug overdose. The man had left a suicide note and there was no trauma on the body. On these facts, there is simply no suggestion of criminality with respect to the actions of any officers involved in responding to this call.”
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