News Release
No Charges Warranted in Man’s Arrest, Broken Nose in Hamilton
Case Number: 22-OCI-179
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that a Hamilton Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the broken nose suffered by a 45-year-old man during his arrest in July.
On the evening of July 11, 2022, officers attempted to stop a cyclist for improper lighting -- a Highway Traffic Act offence in the area of Barton Street East and Chapple Street. The man on the bike refused repeated police commands to stop and continued to flee. An officer forced the man off the bike, and he continued to attempt to escape. The officer punched the man twice in the face and handcuffed him. The man was taken to hospital while in police custody and was diagnosed with a broken nose.
Director Martino was unable to reasonably conclude that the officer acted with excess when he sought to quickly subdue the man with the use of strikes. In the end, whether the man’s broken nose was the result of the officer’s takedown or punches, he was satisfied the injury was not attributable to unlawful conduct on the part of the officer involved. 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