News Release

The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the injuries suffered by a 61-year-old man when he fell from a bridge in Ottawa in June.

In the early morning hours of June 2, 2022, an OPP officer made his way to the Woodroffe Avenue bridge over Highway 417 to investigate reports of a male behaving oddly on the bridge. When the officer pulled up in his cruiser, he observed the man on the sidewalk on the east side of the bridge. The man retreated as the officer exited his cruiser and took several steps in the man’s direction. The officer attempted to speak with the man from the front of his cruiser but was unable to establish any dialogue. The officer asked the man if he could come closer in order to be able to hear what he was saying, and moved a short distance in his direction. The man climbed over the overpass railing and stood on the ledge of a highway sign affixed to the bridge. The officer approached the railing, climbed over it with a leg, and took hold of one of the man’s hands that was holding the highway sign. The officer pleaded with the man to return to safety. The man stepped off the ledge and fell onto the highway below. He was taken in ambulance from the scene to hospital and diagnosed with fractures of the spine and both heels.

Director Martino concluded that the officer did not transgress the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law. 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.