News Release
Investigation into York Regional Police Officers’ Arrest of Man in Pickering Completed
Case Number: 23-OCI-441
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, found no reasonable grounds to believe York Regional Police officers committed a criminal offence in connection with the arrest and broken rib suffered by a 35-year-old man in Pickering.
On October 26, 2023, officers sought to arrest the man for obstruction of justice in connection to a human trafficking case. When officers moved in to arrest him in a parking lot near Dixie and Kingston Roads, the man tried to run away. The man, who had a firearm, was grounded and resisted during his arrest. He was punched and handcuffed. Director Martino accepted that the man’s rib fracture happened during his arrest by police, but concluded the evidence fell short of unlawful conduct by the officers involved.
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.
Monica Hudon, siu.media@ontario.ca
SIU Communications/Service des communications, UES