News Release
No Charges to Issue in Relation to Peterborough Interaction
Case Number: 17-OCI-164
On June 29, 2017, a 69-year-old man was arrested in a park in Peterborough for being intoxicated in a public place. The man was transported to the Peterborough Police Service station. While a police officer was searching the man in the booking room, the man struck the officer in the face. The officer responded by punching the man back. The man was restrained, and then later taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a nose fracture. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Tony Loparco, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against the officer in this case.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision):https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.
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