News Release
No Reasonable Grounds to Charge Police Officer in Relation to Welland Arrest
Case Number: 19-OCI-039
On February 18, 2019, Niagara Regional Police officers were dispatched to a home in Welland in relation to a domestic dispute. A confrontation ensued between an officer and a 64-year-old man. When the man attempted to bite the officer, the officer reacted by delivering two elbow strikes to the man’s head. Other officers arrived and placed the man under arrest. He was taken from the scene to hospital and diagnosed with multiple fractures and a collapsed lung. The Interim Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges 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