News Release
No Charges to Issue in Connection with Man’s Injury in Oshawa
Case Number: 22-OCI-106
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that any Durham Regional Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the injury suffered by a 53-year-old man in April.
In the early morning hours of April 8, 2022, officers attended an Oshawa residence to check on the well-being of a man. There, they found the man to be intoxicated and agitated. When the man calmed, officers took him into custody and placed him in a cruiser to be transported to hospital for examination. While in the cruiser, the man became agitated and he banged his handcuffed hands on the Plexiglas partition of the cruiser. Once at the hospital, the man refused to unclasp his hands so they could be affixed to the hospital bed restraints. Officers and hospital security personnel attempted to pry open the man’s hands. In the process, the man suffered a broken left finger. He was subsequently sedated, restrained to the bed, and brought into the hospital.
As there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officers comported themselves unlawfully in their dealings with the man, Director Martino determined there was 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): 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.
Kristy Denette, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES