News Release
No Grounds to Charge Officers in Brampton Arrest
Case Number: 22-OVI-073
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that a Peel Regional Police officer committed a criminal offence in connection with a 31-year-old man’s arrest and injury in March in Brampton.
In the morning of March 9, 2022, the Tactical Response Unit was deployed to arrest a man who was wanted for robbery offences, armed with a crowbar, and driving a stolen vehicle. When the man brought the stolen Hyundai Tucson to a stop in front of a Queen Street business, an SUV being driven by one of the officers approached and struck the Hyundai’s rear end, pinning it against the wall. An officer emerged from the passenger side of the SUV holding a rifle and directing the man to exit with his hands up. The man fled to an adjacent business. An unmarked police vehicle drove up along the man and nudged him off stride. Another officer drove towards the man to assist in the apprehension, and the contact sent the man tumbling to the ground. The man got up, took several additional strides and again fell to the ground. After a struggle, the man was arrested and taken to hospital were he was diagnosed with a fractured right ankle.
Though it remained unclear precisely when the man’s ankle was broken during his interaction with the police, Director Martino was satisfied on reasonable grounds that his injury was not attributable to unlawful conduct on the part of the involved officers. There was no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case, and the file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.
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