News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Waterloo Officer and Man’s Serious Injury
Case Number: 22-OCI-048
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe a Waterloo Regional Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with a broken arm suffered by a 23-year-old man during his arrest in February.
On February 16, 2022, officers arrested the man for outstanding warrants and after he refused to leave a private property. The man became belligerent and resisted arrest. The officer used a technique to wrestle control of the man’s left arm behind his back. He was handcuffed. Paramedics took the man to hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken left arm.
Director Martino found there were no reasonable grounds to believe the injury was attributable to criminal conduct by the subject official. 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.
Monica Hudon, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES