News Release
Man in Pickering Injured after he Jumped from Footbridge to Rocks Below; SIU Closes File
Case Number: 19-OCI-214
The Interim Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into the injuries sustained last month in Pickering by a 37-year-old man.
In the afternoon hours of September 6, 2019, a family member of the man contacted 911 to report that the man was in distress. Durham Regional Police Service officers were dispatched and they located the man on the outer aspect of a footbridge railing behind the West Shore Community Centre. Officers consoled the man and stressed they were there to help. The man told officers he did not want to live, and then jumped from the bridge onto the rocks below. He was transported to hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured left tibia and fibula.
Interim Director Martino said, “It is apparent on the aforementioned record, established in the course of the SIU’s preliminary inquiries, that no officer caused or contributed to the man’s self-inflicted injury in any manner that could attract criminal liability. Consequently, the investigation is hereby discontinued, and the file closed.”
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