News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation in Peterborough
Case Number: 07-OCI-017
The SIU investigation determined that on January 17, 2007, at approximately 9:38 p.m., several Peterborough officers responded to an unknown trouble call at a home on Weller Street in Peterborough. They arrived to find two women outside of the home. The women told police about a disturbance involving Mr. Cranley, who was inside the home.
A couple of officers remained with the women to receive further information about their allegations. In the meantime, three officers entered the home and started speaking with Mr. Cranley in the kitchen. An officer removed his handcuffs to arrest Mr. Cranley. It was around this time that Mr. Cranley picked up a kitchen knife. A struggle ensued and Mr. Cranley suffered a knife wound to his upper chest area during the course of his arrest. He was immediately transported to hospital where he was treated for his injury.
Director Cornish concluded that the officers were proceeding lawfully to arrest Mr. Cranley at the time the injury was inflicted. He observed that the evidence diverged as to how exactly Mr. Cranley's injury was inflicted, but that none of the evidence suggested the officers intentionally caused the injury. On any of the scenarios presented by the evidence, the Director was satisfied that there were no grounds to believe the officers committed a criminal offence in connection with the arrest and injury.
Mr. Cranley currently faces charges as a result of this incident. As a result, the SIU will not be issuing any further information on this investigation.
If you or someone you know has been negatively affected by an incident under SIU investigation and would like support, the Affected Persons Program is here to help. You can reach us at 1-877-641-1897. Support is free, confidential, and available 24/7, every day of the year.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (municipal, regional and provincial police officers, police officers with the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, 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