News Release
Man Declines to Provide Statement Regarding Guelph University Interaction; SIU Terminates Investigation
Case Number: 18-OCI-016
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Tony Loparco, has terminated an investigation into an incident that occurred in November of 2017 at Guelph University involving a 22-year-old man.
On November 19, 2017, campus police officers arrested the man for offences. He was then transferred to the custody of Guelph Police Service (GPS) officers. On January 22, 2018, the GPS was made aware that the man sustained a serious injury during the incident, and as a result, notified the SIU. SIU investigators were in touch with the man’s counsel, who told investigators the man would not provide an interview to the SIU, and would not be disclosing the nature of his injuries.
Director Loparco said, “The man declined to provide a statement or otherwise participate in this SIU investigation. As such, I have terminated the investigation into this incident.”
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