News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Ottawa Officers’ Conduct in Man’s Arrest
Case Number: 22-OCI-029
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that two Ottawa Police Service officers committed a criminal offence in connection with a broken hand suffered by a 26-year-old man during his arrest in January.
On January 31, 2022, officers attempted to arrest the man for a breach of curfew. During the arrest, the man refused to get out of his SUV. The officers forced the man out and onto the ground.
Director Martino accepted that the man’s hand was broken in the takedown from the SUV or the brief struggle on the ground; however, he was not satisfied that his injury was due to any unlawful conduct by the involved officers.
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.
Monica Hudon, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES