News Release
SIU Concludes Injuries Investigation in Wyoming
Case Number: 13-PCI-002
Mississauga (13 February, 2013) --- The Acting Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Joseph Martino, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge any Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer with the Petrolia detachment with a criminal offence in relation to the injuries sustained by a 39-year-old woman in January of 2013.
The SIU assigned three investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, two witness officers and two civilian witnesses were interviewed. Both subject officers declined to be interviewed by the SIU and declined to submit their duty notes, as is their legal right.
The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Wednesday, January 2:
• At approximately 9 p.m., OPP officers responded to a domestic dispute call at a residence on Leyton Street in Plympton-Wyoming.
• Officers attempted to arrest a woman for mischief. However, she resisted when officers tried to handcuff her, and was subsequently taken to the ground. She was arrested and taken to the OPP Petrolia detachment. Once at the detachment, she continued to resist and again was taken to the ground.
• After being lodged in a cell, the woman complained of sore ribs. She was transported to the Charlotte Engelhart Hospital where she was diagnosed with two left side rib fractures.
Acting Director Martino said, “There does not appear to be any question around the lawfulness of the woman’s arrest. In addition, there is simply no foundation in the evidence to reasonably conclude that the subject officers used excessive force. And what evidence there is suggests that the woman’s fractures were the result of an application of force by one of the subject officers, but that the force used was no more than was reasonably necessary in light of the woman’s resistance.”
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