News Release
SIU Discontinues Investigation into Uxbridge Incident
Case Number: 22-OCI-321
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into an interaction in December between a 32-year-old man and Durham Regional Police Service officers.
In the early morning of December 18, 2022, Durham Regional Police Service officers pursued a Honda Civic in which the man was a passenger. A tire deflation device (TDD) was deployed during the pursuit, which damaged one of the vehicle’s tires. Despite the damaged tire, the driver of the Honda continued to flee at speed even after the police terminated the pursuit. Some twenty kilometres after the TDD deployment, in the area of Brock Road and Highway 47, the Honda crashed into a ditch. The driver and the passenger fled into the surrounding landscape and attempted to hide as police officers arrived on scene. The officers were led to the area by a police helicopter that had been tracking the Honda. The passenger was located and asked to approach the officers. He complied and cut his leg as he climbed over a wire fence to get to the officers. Paramedics were called and the man was taken to hospital where the laceration – about ten centimetres in length – was treated.
Based on the SIU’s preliminary inquiries, including a review of the man’s medical records and a review of video footage that captured the incident in parts, Director Martino was satisfied that the investigation should be discontinued. It was plain that nothing the police did, or failed to do, caused or contributed to the man’s cut in any way that could attract criminal sanction. Accordingly, there being patently nothing to investigate as far as the officers’ potential criminal liability was concerned, the file has been closed.
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
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Kristy Denette, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES