News Release
No Charges for Greater Sudbury Officer After Man’s Nose Broken
Case Number: 22-OCI-139
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that a Greater Sudbury Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with a broken nose suffered by a 41-year-old man in May.
In the evening of May 28, 2022, officers were called to a residence in Worthington for a wellness check. Officers tried to speak with the man to calm him down without avail. Officers attempted to apprehend the man under the Mental Health Act. The man entered a van and kicked at one of the officer’s shields. The officer discharged his Conducted Energy Weapon twice. Officers pulled the man out of the van and onto the ground. The man spat at one of the officers and the officer punched him in the face. He was handcuffed. Police took the man to hospital where he was held for examination under the Mental Health Act and diagnosed with nasal fractures.
Director Martino accepted that while the subject official was likely to have broken the man’s nose, he was not satisfied that the injury was attributable to any unlawful conduct on the part of the officer. As such, 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):
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