News Release
Man’s Injury Caused When he Jumped to the Ground from a Third Floor Balcony; SIU Terminates Toronto Investigation
Case Number: 18-TCI-223
The Acting Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into the serious injury sustained by a 22-year-old man last month in Toronto.
At approximately 3 p.m. on July 24, 2018, Toronto Police Service officers attended an apartment building on Lawrence Avenue West in relation to a domestic dispute call. While officers were speaking to the owner of the eighth floor apartment unit, the 22-year-old man exited the unit via the balcony. He climbed from the eighth floor balcony down to the third floor balcony using each successive balcony as a conduit. Once he reached the third floor balcony, the man jumped and struck the ground. The man was taken into custody by police, and subsequently taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured ankle.
Acting Director Martino said, “The man’s injury is solely the result of his decision to scale five flights of balconies down the exterior of a residential building and jump to the ground from the third floor in an ill-fated attempt to evade police apprehension. 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