News Release
No Serious Injury Sustained by Man Who Fell out of Recycling Bin; SIU Terminates Mississauga Investigation
Case Number: 18-OCI-254
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Tony Loparco, has terminated an investigation into an interaction that occurred last month in Mississauga between a 20-year-old man and Peel Regional Police (PRP) officers.
On the evening of August 27, 2018, PRP officers were conducting an investigation in the area of Britannia Road West and Whitehorn Avenue. Incorrectly assuming that police were in the area looking for him, the 20-year-old man hid in a large single-home recycling container to evade the police. When a police dog alerted the officers to someone hiding in the recycling container, the officers ordered the man to exit and they then tipped over the container. The man fell out and he was arrested. As a result of feeling pain in his arm, the man was taken to hospital for treatment.
Director Loparco said, “There is no medical evidence of the man suffering any new injury from falling out of the recycling bin in which he was hiding. Accordingly, 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