News Release
No Grounds to Charge North Bay Police Officer in Relation to Canadian Tire Parking Lot Incident
Case Number: 19-OCI-281
On the morning of November 20, 2019, a North Bay Police Service officer observed a 28-year-old man operating a pickup truck in violation of a driving prohibition. The officer followed the man into a Canadian Tire parking lot, parked his unmarked vehicle behind the pickup truck, and made his way to the driver’s door intending to effect an arrest. At the sight of the officer, the man placed his pickup into gear, reversed a couple of times, striking the officer’s vehicle in the process, and drove away. The man was arrested two days later, at which time he claimed that the officer had injured his left hand during their earlier encounter. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s injury.
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