News Release
SIU Concludes Investigation into Fleeing Man Injured in Thunder Bay Arrest
Case Number: 23-OCI-498
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, found no reasonable grounds to believe a Thunder Bay Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the arrest of a 32-year-old man. On December 6, 2023, officers attempted to arrest the man on a warrant in the area of Court Street North and River Street. He fled and an officer took him to the ground.
Director Martino said the man was known to the officers from prior encounters with the police to be violent and carry a firearm. On this record, he said it made sense to forcibly take the man to the ground. Doing so would bring the man’s flight to an end while positioning the officers to better manage any further resistance from the man and restrict his access to a possible weapon.
In the result, while Director Martino accepted that the man’s clavicle was broken when he was grounded by the officer, he was unable to reasonably conclude that the injury was attributable to unlawful conduct on the part of the officer.
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