News Release

News Release

SIU Concludes Investigation into Injuries Sustained by Man in Mississauga

Case Number: 15-OCI-015   

Mississauga (26 August, 2015) --- The Acting Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Joseph Martino, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge a Peel Regional Police officer with any criminal offence in relation to the injuries sustained by a 25-year-old man in Mississauga who fell out of a moving police cruiser in January of 2015.

The SIU assigned four investigators and one forensic investigator to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, three civilian witnesses and one witness officer were interviewed. The subject officer consented to an interview with the SIU, but did not provide a copy of his duty notes as is his legal right.

The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Thursday, January 22, 2015:
• Shortly after noon, the subject officer arrested the 25-year-old man on Elmcreek Drive in relation to several thefts from a department store. The man’s arms were handcuffed behind his back and he was placed in the rear passenger side seat of the subject officer’s cruiser. 
• A short time into their trip to the police station, while the cruiser was travelling north on Mavis Road at about 68 km/h, the man managed to slip his left hand out of the handcuff and then break the glass window of the rear passenger door. He ejected himself head first through the open window onto the roadway.
• The subject officer slowed the cruiser immediately as the man tumbled forward, coming to rest in the right turn curb lane just south of Central Parkway West. The officer positioned his cruiser behind the man to protect him from oncoming traffic and called for assistance while rendering aid to the man. 
• The man was transported by ambulance to the Trillium Health Centre for treatment of facial fractures, cuts and scrapes.

Acting Director Martino said, “The evidence, in my view, establishes that the subject officer conducted himself lawfully, and with proper care and regard for the man, at all times. The officer had the necessary reasonable grounds to proceed with the man’s arrest. With respect to the events that occurred in the cruiser, there is no suggestion that the subject officer failed to exercise a reasonable level of care with respect to the man or that the man’s injuries are anything other than the result of a brash and ill-advised decision for which he alone is to blame. As such, there are no reasonable grounds for proceeding with charges in this case.”

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