News Release
No Charges in Man’s Broken Hip During Arrest in London
Case Number: 21-OCI-165
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that a London Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the broken right hip suffered by a man in the course of his arrest last May.
On May 25, 2021, the London Police Service responded to a report of the man behaving strangely and waving a steak knife in the air in the area of High Street and Front Street in London. During an attempt to arrest the man, suspected of having a knife in his pocket and refusing to remove his hands from his pockets, an officer kicked out the man’s right leg from under him. After the man was arrested, an ambulance was called. He was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a fractured right hip.
Director Martino found the use of force by the officer in this case was reasonable in the circumstances, thus the file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://siu.on.ca/en/directors_report_details.php?drid=1569
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
Lisez ce communiqué en français.
Kristy Denette, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES