News Release
Man Sustained Injury After Jumping out of Apartment Window; SIU Terminates North Bay Investigation
Case Number: 20-OCI-085
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into the serious injury sustained by a 38-year-old man in April in North Bay.
On the evening of Tuesday, April 14, 2020, two officers with the North Bay Police Service attended an apartment on Clarence Street, to investigate the well-being of a man and to further investigate whether he was in breach of a judicial order. Officers knocked on the apartment door and the man answered. The man told the officers he would be leaving the apartment, and then left the doorway to get changed. While officers waited in the hallway, the man jumped out of the third-floor bedroom window. He was transported to hospital where he was determined to have a fractured pelvis and arms.
Director Martino said, “Based on the SIU’s preliminary inquiries, there is patently nothing to further investigate as far as the potential criminal liability of any police officer is concerned in connection with the man’s injuries. Two officers, who had been sent to the unit to investigate the man’s well-being and a possible breach of a court order, were outside the apartment’s door in the hallway at the time the man decided to jump from the window. Consequently, the investigation is hereby discontinued, and the file is 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