News Release
SIU Discontinues Trenton Investigation as Man Alone was Responsible for Injury
Case Number: 21-PCI-006
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into the serious injury sustained by a 27-year-old man earlier this month in Trenton.
On January 3, 2021, a homeowner contacted police to report that he and his wife had been threatened by an individual, and that individual was on his way to their farm. Upon arriving at the address, Ontario Provincial Police officers found the person of interest on the roof of an outbuilding on the farm property. The man had climbed a ladder to the roof to flee the arriving officers. Despite repeated exhortations by police that the man descend safely from the roof, the man jumped. However, he slipped as he landed on a lower level roof and proceeded to fall onto the ground below. The man fractured his pelvis in the process.
Director Martino said, “Based on the SIU’s preliminary inquiries, it is evident there is patently nothing to investigate as far as the potential criminal liability of any police officer is concerned in connection with the man’s injury. As it apparent on the aforementioned-record that the man is alone responsible for his injury, the 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