News Release
SIU Discontinues Rockland Investigation
Case Number: 20-PCI-286
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into an October incident in which a 53-year-old man was injured.
On the morning of October 29, 2020, a team of Ontario Provincial Police officers attended an address in Rockland to execute a search warrant. The officers were permitted entry without incident by the homeowners – the 53-year-old man and his wife. As the search was ongoing, the man asked to use the second-floor bathroom. An officer stood outside the door as the man entered, and regularly called into the bathroom to check if the man was okay, to which the man responded that he was. When after one such inquiry the man failed to respond, the officer forced his way into the bathroom and found the man with pair of scissors sticking out of his neck. First aid was performed and the man was taken to hospital for treatment of a neck injury.
The man did not to consent to the release of his medical records.
Director Martino said, “Based on the SIU’s preliminary inquiries, I am satisfied that the SIU’s investigation should be discontinued at this time. As the man declined to authorize the release of his medical records, the SIU is without definitive evidence regarding the nature and extent of his wound. The little information the SIU does have about the injury suggests it was relatively minor. Beyond that, the evidence establishes that the man stabbed himself in the neck through no fault of any of the officers present in his home.
“In the circumstances, as it remains unclear whether this incident gives rise to a “serious injury” within the meaning of the SIU’s mandate and, conversely, it is evident that the man is alone responsible for having stabbed himself, this file is hereby 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