News Release
SIU Terminates Ottawa Investigation
Case Number: 18-OCI-363
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Tony Loparco, has terminated an investigation into an incident that occurred in December of 2018 between a 39-year-old man and Ottawa Police Service officers.
At approximately 3 a.m. on December 18, 2018, the man approached the stopped vehicle of an OPS officer who was patrolling on Montreal Road in the vicinity of Ogilvie Road. The man was in an aggravated state and engaged in a verbal assault on the officer that included profanity and threats. The threats escalated to the point where the man began punching windows of the patrol unit, shattering one of the windows. The man was arrested by the officer, with assistance from other OPS officers that had arrived. During the arrest, the man was both pepper sprayed and tasered. After his arrest, the man complained of injury to his left hand and was taken to hospital for treatment.
On the date of the incident, an SIU investigator attempted to contact the man by telephone at the numbers he had provided to the arresting officer. Neither of the numbers provided were determined to be in service. SIU investigators also attended multiple addresses, and left a business card with a request for the man to contact the SIU.
Director Loparco said, “The man has not made himself available for an interview, and we have been unable to contact him despite numerous attempts to do so. 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