News Release

News Release

SIU Investigating Death in Innisfil

Case Number: 11-OCD-012   

Mississauga (23 January, 2011) --- Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is probing the circumstances surrounding the death of a man in Innisfil yesterday evening.

The South Simcoe Police Service (SSPS) contacted the SIU at 10:10 p.m. January 22, 2011 and reported the following:

• Five officers from the SSPS responded to a domestic call on Innisfil Beach Road;
• When the officers arrived at the home a man locked himself in a room.  The man would not come out;
• Officers eventually forced entry into the room and found a male in medical distress;
• EMS responded and took the man to Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie;
• 44-year-old Sulev Saamel succumbed to his injuries at hospital;
• The SIU has assigned four investigators and one forensic investigator to probe the circumstances surrounding this incident;
• The SIU has designated three officers as witness officers and two officers as subject officers; and
• The post mortem will be conducted in Toronto on Monday, January 24.

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