News Release
SIU Director Ends 2013 Case Involving Police Officer and Security Guards at a Mall in St. Catharines
Case Number: 17-OCI-366
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Tony Loparco, has determined that there is no evidence to continue an investigation into a serious injury suffered by a man who was arrested at the Penn Centre Mall in St. Catharines in 2013.
On August 26, 2013, a number of persons reported a man behaving in a strange manner at the Penn Centre Mall in St. Catharines. Two mall security guards apprehended the man in the parking lot of the mall, and the man was taken to the ground. A Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) officer arrived and the man was charged with trespassing.
A civil suit was initiated; it did not name the NRPS. In 2017, the NRPS received notice of a response to the statement of claim asserting the arresting officer was responsible for the man’s injuries. The NRPS notified the Special Investigations Unit of the incident and an investigation was started.
Director Loparco said, “I have terminated the investigation into the incident on August 26, 2013, as the video evidence establishes that the serious injury was not caused by police conduct.”
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