News Release
SIU Concludes Injury Investigation in Elgin County
Case Number: 13-PCI-136
Mississauga (15 July, 2013) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge any Elgin County Ontario Provincial Police officer with a criminal offence in relation to the injuries sustained by a 40-year-old male last month.
The SIU assigned three investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, one witness officer and two civilian witnesses were interviewed. Neither of the two subject officers provided their notes or a statement to the SIU as is their legal right.
The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Tuesday, June 18, 2013:
• Shortly after midnight, the two subject officers and a witness officer arrived at a residence on Anger Road in response to an alleged assault and arson.
• All three officers checked the residence for the man, a suspect in the matter, but did not locate him. The witness officer decided to check on a car parked near a barn in an attempt to find him. When she saw the man exiting from the barn, she attempted to arrest him. The man put up a significant amount of resistance at the same time that the subject officers arrived to assist in the arrest. The witness officer was on the complainant’s left side, while the two subject officers were on his right. All of the officers present used force to effect the arrest.
• The man was later diagnosed as sustaining a rib fracture on his right side, followed by a haemopneumothorax (this refers to the condition characterized by the accumulation of air and blood in the pleural space that separates the lung from the chest wall).
Director Scott said, “There is no doubt that the involved officers had the lawful authority to arrest the man based upon the information they received that he had allegedly assaulted another individual and lit his house on fire. They also had the authority to use reasonable force to effect that arrest. The subject officers were in the closest proximity to the area where the complainant sustained his injuries during the arrest. However the complainant was significantly resisting a lawful arrest, I am unable to conclude on the basis of the facts found in this investigation that the force used was excessive 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