News Release
No Charges to Issue in Relation to Woman’s Apprehension in Peterborough
Case Number: 20-OCI-252
On October 5, 2020, Peterborough Police Service officers were dispatched to the area of the Go Bus terminal on Simcoe Street. The police had received a call about a woman lying on a ramp to an underground parking. Upon their arrival, the officers located the 24-year-old woman and it soon became apparent that she was of unsound mind. When their repeated efforts to have the 24-year-old woman vacate the area went unheeded, the officers decided to apprehend her under the Mental Health Act. The woman resisted, but eventually the woman was apprehended. Paramedics arrived at the scene and transported the woman to hospital, where she was diagnosed with a broken right arm. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an 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