News Release
No Charges to Issue in Relation to Arrest of Woman in Mississauga
Case Number: 20-OCI-110
On the night of May 10, 2020, the Peel Regional Police (PRP) Tactical & Rescue Unit was dispatched to a Mississauga home after a 37-year-old woman told a crisis centre she was distraught and feeling suicidal, and that she had a gun and was planning to harm herself with it. Once they arrived, the officers saw the woman sitting on a step on the front porch. When the woman failed to adequately respond to the directions of the officers, she was taken to the ground. When the woman was seen to be reaching for something, a conducted energy weapon was deployed. The woman was apprehended and transported to hospital for treatment of a broken nose. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe a PRP officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the woman’s arrest and 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