News Release
No Charges Against Hamilton Police Officers in Arrested Man’s Serious Injury
Case Number: 21-OCI-313
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that two Hamilton Police Service officers committed a criminal offence in connection with the arrest and serious injury suffered by a 46-year-old man last September.
On September 19, 2021, officers sought to arrest a man for fleeing the scene of an accident. The man resisted arrest, and officers pinned him to the ground while wrestling to control his arms and handcuff him.
Director Martino found that the evidence showed the man’s injury was inflicted prior to his arrest by police. In the result, there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the man’s injury was associated with unlawful force on the part of the subject officials. Accordingly, the file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision):
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