News Release
Officer Acted Lawfully in Hamilton Arrest of Man; No Charges to Issue
Case Number: 19-OCI-279
On November 21, 2019, a Hamilton Police Service officer received information that a 27-year-old man was in possession of a stolen truck. The officer located the truck in a parking lot of a residential building. When the man exited the building and attempted to gain access to the truck, the officer formed the necessary grounds to believe that the man was in possession of stolen property and he therefore had the necessary grounds to place him under arrest. During the course of arresting the man, the officer took him to the ground, resulting in the man sustaining a broken clavicle. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined the officer acted lawfully throughout the incident. Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges and the file is closed.
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