News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Man Seriously Injured in Standoff in Niagara Falls
Case Number: 23-OCI-077
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, found no reasonable grounds to believe two Niagara Regional Police Service officers committed a criminal offence in connection with the broken foot suffered by a 32-year-old man in Niagara Falls.
On March 9, 2023, a family member made a call to 911 about a man in mental distress who had a knife. The man barricaded himself in the house. After about five hours of trying to negotiate with the man, police forced entry into the house and later the bedroom where the man was. The man fled, tried to jump across a gap to the roof of a nearby structure and fell, breaking his right foot. He was taken into custody and taken to hospital for treatment and psychiatric examination.
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