News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Man’s Self-Inflicted Death After Police Pursuit of Carjacked Truck in Clarington
Case Number: 22-PCD-004
Other News Releases Related to Case 22-PCD-004
SIU Investigating After Collision, Two People Seriously Injured in Clarington
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that officers with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) committed a criminal offence in connection with the death of a 45-year-old man in January.
On January 9, 2022, the man was involved in a crash in Port Hope and left the scene. The man entered the backseat of a pickup truck and ordered the driver, at knifepoint, to operate the vehicle. OPP officers attempted to perform a rolling block of the truck and a spike belt was deployed. The driver hit the spike belt and was subsequently forced off the roadway into a ditch by OPP officers in the area of Highway 115/35.
OPP and DRPS officers located the man with knife wounds and administered CPR. He was taken via air ambulance to a hospital in Toronto. The man died of self-inflicted knife wounds.
Director Martino said there were no reasonable grounds to believe that any of the officers involved in the events that culminated in the man’s death failed to comport themselves within the limits of the criminal law, leaving no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case. 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