News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Drug Overdose by Man While in London Cell
Case Number: 23-OCI-360
On the afternoon of September 1, 2023, a 31-year-old man was arrested by a London Police Service officer for violating the term of a conditional sentence order. The man was searched twice at the scene of his arrest and a glass pipe was seized. He was searched again at the police station, and then lodged in a cell. He denied being in possession of drugs. At approximately 5:30 p.m., the man was located unresponsive in his cell. Unbeknownst to police, the man had a quantity of fentanyl secreted on his person, which he had ingested at some point. CPR was performed and several doses of Narcan were administered. Paramedics transported the man to hospital where he was treated and eventually recovered from a drug overdose. On his assessment of the evidence, SIU Director Joseph Martino determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that any officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s overdose.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.
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.
Monica Hudon, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES