News Release

News Release

SIU Concludes Investigation into Injuries Sustained by Man in Hamilton

Case Number: 12-OCI-342   

Mississauga (11 January, 2013) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge an officer with the Hamilton Police Service with any criminal offence in relation to the injuries sustained by a 23-year-old man in November of 2012.

The SIU assigned four investigators and two forensic investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, three witness officers and three civilian witnesses were interviewed. The subject officer participated in an interview and provided the SIU with a copy of his notes.

The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Saturday, November 17:
• In the evening hours, the subject officer and another officer were completing paperwork while parked in marked cruisers at a Duke Street recreation centre. 
• A man drove into the driveway of the centre, and then immediately turned around and drove away. The subject officer followed the car as it went into an apartment building area at 265 Duke Street. The man stopped his car in the parking lot, exited, and began running in a westerly direction.  The subject officer exited his vehicle and began looking for the man. 
• In the interim, the man had jumped over a fence that had a 6.5 metre drop on the other side, and fallen to the ground below. As part of his search for the man, the officer looked over the drop and found the complainant on the ground.
• When officers reached the man, he complained of a sore back.  He was transported to Hamilton General Hospital where he was diagnosed as sustaining three fractures to his spine. 
• Further investigation disclosed that the man may have been in breach of a curfew term of a recognizance.

Director Scott said, “In my view, the subject officer did nothing wrong in these circumstances.  He has a duty to investigate crime, and the man had engaged in suspicious behaviour.  Although the complainant unfortunately sustained a very serious injury when he fell 6.5 metres in an attempt to elude the police, he was the author of his own misfortune.”

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