News Release

No Charges Against Toronto Police Officer in Man’s Fall from High-Rise Balcony

Case Number: 21-TCI-383   

Other News Releases Related to Case 21-TCI-383

SIU Investigating Serious Injuries Suffered by Man in Toronto

Mississauga, ON (9 March, 2022) ---
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer committed a criminal offence in connection with serious injuries suffered by a 31-year-old man after he fell from an eighth-floor balcony last November.

On November 9, 2021, officers went to an apartment in search of the man -- wanted for a violation of a probation order. Officers announced their arrival before they were let into the residence, and another officer was positioned outside to keep a look-out on the balcony before they knocked. 

Director Martino concluded that the officers involved had no opportunity to intervene to prevent the man’s fall – he had already embarked on his fateful decision to scale down the balcony. In the result, there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officers transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law in relation to the man’s fall.  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