News Release
SIU Terminates Oshawa Investigation
Case Number: 20-OCI-269
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into the serious injuries sustained by a 24-year-old man last month in Oshawa.
On October 14, 2020, officers with the Durham Regional Police Service were dispatched to a home in Oshawa after a man reported that his stepson was in possession of a knife and was threatening suicide. When officers arrived at the home, they learned that the man had barricaded himself in a bedroom. Concerned for the man’s well-being, the officers breached the bedroom door and found the man had sustained self-inflicted cuts to his throat and wrists. He was apprehended under the Mental Health Act and transported to hospital for treatment.
Director Martino said, “Based on the information derived from the SIU’s preliminary inquiries, I am satisfied that there is patently nothing further to investigate as far as the potential criminal liability of any police officer is concerned. The man alone was responsible for his self-inflicted wounds, incurred in a moment of emotional crisis, and it would appear that the police operation that breached the bedroom door and reached the man may well have prevented further self-harm and even death. In the circumstances, the SIU 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