Officers cleared after man’s rib broken during arrest in Pickering
Published February 26, 2024 at 4:34 pm
The arresting officer has been cleared of wrongdoing after he broke a suspect’s rib during a takedown in Pickering.
On Oct. 26, the suspect drove into a parking lot near Dixie Rd. and Kingston Rd, according to the Special Investigations Unit. Waiting for him was a group of York Regional Police officers who had been investigating the man. The man was suspected of obstructing justice in a human trafficking case. Investigators believed he was often armed with a gun.
On arrival, he got out of his car and walked away. The officers also got out of their vehicle to arrest the suspect. However, the suspect forgot his vape in his car and turned around to get it. It was then he saw the officer getting out of the car. In total four officers got out of the car.
As soon as he noticed the police, the man turned and ran south through the parking lot. He then turned east, north, then west around the lot. While some officers followed the man, another ran to head the suspect off at a row of cars.
The suspect and officer bodychecked into each other, and the other two pursuing officers also piled on top of the suspect. The officers punched the man once or twice during a struggle on the ground, according to the SIU report.
The suspect was arrested and taken to hospital. Though he complained of pain in his leg, it was found to be uninjured. However, the man had a broken rib.
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Once the man’s injury was discovered, police informed the SIU, which launched an investigation into all three officers.
On Feb. 26, SIU director Joeseph Martino released his report, which found the officers had done nothing wrong during the arrest.
“As was captured on video, the [suspect] was determined to escape. He ran as fast as he could from the officers chasing him and was only stopped when he bumped into Officer #1 approaching from another direction,” he wrote.
“Thereafter, the subject officials were prudent in taking the [suspect] down given the information they had of a firearm in his possession,” he continued, “On the ground with officers overtop, he would find it more difficult to access a weapon on his person.”
One of the officers admitted he punched the suspect in the left side during the takedown. Martino believes this was justified given the circumstances.
“That would not seem an excessive use of force given the information about the gun and the need to restrain the [suspect] as quickly as possible.”
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