News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Falling Injuries Sustained by Man in Mississauga
Case Number: 12-OCI-184
Mississauga (27 July, 2012) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge a Peel Regional Police (PRP) officer with any criminal offence in relation to the injuries sustained by a 34-year-old man in January of 2012.
The SIU assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident. The subject officer declined to be interviewed by the SIU and did not provide a copy of his duty notes, as is his legal right. Three witness officers and six civilian witnesses were interviewed.
The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Tuesday, June 26:
• Shortly after 2:00 a.m., the subject officer and two witness officers were dispatched to a Rugby Road apartment building regarding a disturbance in a sixth floor apartment.
• As the officers prepared to enter the sixth floor apartment unit, a building security guard opened its door, quickly exited and yelled, “he jumped!”
• The subject officer and a witness officer rushed to the first floor, exited the building, and found a man lying on the ground. He was transported to St. Michael’s Hospital where he was diagnosed as sustaining two fractured legs, fractured ribs, bruised lungs and other internal injuries as a result of the fall.
Director Scott said, “The investigation disclosed that there was no contact between the complainant and any involved officer before he either slipped or jumped from the sixth floor apartment window causing himself serious injuries when he impacted with the ground below. It would appear by all accounts that the man was the author of his own misfortune. Accordingly, I have no grounds to believe that the subject officer committed a criminal offence in these circumstances.”
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