News Release
No Basis to Charge Any Officer Involved in Arrest of Man in Ottawa
Case Number: 19-OCI-199
On the evening of August 18, 2019, the Ottawa Police Service received a number of 911 calls complaining of a vehicle that was being driven in a dangerous manner. Officers located the vehicle and proceeded to arrest the driver. However, the driver – a 33-year-old man – violently resisted the efforts of the police officers, and on multiple occasions attempted to grab onto the use of force options on the officers’ duty belts. The man was eventually subdued and placed in a cruiser. He was diagnosed with a fracture of the orbital bone. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there is no basis for proceeding with 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