News Release
SIU Discontinues Toronto Investigation
Case Number: 23-TCI-179
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation into the serious injury suffered by a 34-year-old man in May in Toronto.
In the afternoon of May 10, 2023, Toronto Police Service Emergency Task Force officers attended at a 16th floor apartment in the area of Fleet Street and Bastion Street. They were looking for a man who was a suspect in a homicide earlier that day. The officers forced open the door, called-out for the man and deployed a robot to look for him. They shortly came to learn that the man was situated on the balcony of an apartment on the 15th floor. Officers arrived at the balcony and took the man into custody without incident. He was transported to hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured left clavicle.
Based on the SIU’s preliminary inquiries, Director Martino was satisfied that the investigation should be discontinued. Video footage from a nearby building had captured the man on the 15th floor balcony, seemingly favouring his left shoulder, prior to the arrival of police. While the precise cause of the man’s injury was unknown – he refused to speak to the SIU – it was possible that he broke his clavicle scaling from one balcony to the next. Be that as it may, it was evident on the aforementioned-record that the police did not cause or contribute to the injury in any manner that could conceivably attract criminal sanction. Accordingly, as there was patently nothing to investigate as far as the criminal liability of any police officer 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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SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES