Officer who broke suspect’s nose ‘justified’ during takedown in Brampton
Published February 29, 2024 at 8:39 pm
The officer who broke a suspect’s nose during a takedown in a Brampton “justified” in his use of force, the Special Investigations Unit decided.
According to the SIU, a tenant of a home on Williams Pkwy. and Main St. called the police to report his roommate had threatened to burn down the home and had brandished a knife during a rent dispute.
Officers responded to the home by 6:20 p.m. on Oct. 31. When they arrived they interviewed the caller and the other roommates who confirmed the suspect was upstairs. The suspect was still armed with the knife and acting belligerently, the SIU alleged.
The officer drew their service pistols and entered the home. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs. When they announced they were police, the man responded with a request for the officer to kill him.
The officers told the man to place his hands behind his head and descend the stairs backwards. He did so. They then ordered him to lay down on the ground face first. He again did as he was told.
One of the officers climbed on top of the man as he lay on the floor to cuff his hand. At this point, the man began to resist arrest. The SIU said he lifted his torso off the ground and bucked the officer off his back. The second officer, who had been holding the man’s legs, jumped up and pushed the man back to the ground.
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As the officer and the suspect were lying parallel to each other, the first officer punched the man in the face four times. The second officer, still on top of the man, struck him several times with his knee.
Two other officers arrived from the back of the house and also joined the struggle. Under the dogpile, the suspect tried to reach for the first officer’s duty belt. He received another three punches to the head.
After this, the officers managed to pull the man’s arms back and cuff him. The officers took the man to hospital under the Mental Health Act where he was diagnosed with a broken nose.
As in any case where police seriously injure a person, the SIU was called in to investigate. Director Joeseph Martino released his report on Feb. 29. He found no evidence the officer committed a crime in arresting the man.
Police in Ontario are given broad protections to use force if that force is “reasonably necessary.” On the force used in this case, Martino found he was “satisfied that it was justified.”
“At the time, the officer could not be sure that the [suspect] was not in possession of the knife that had been described by the 911 caller. There was a need in the moment to immediately deter the Complainant lest he should access a weapon,” he explained.
“There was an even greater need to immediately deter the man when he reached for the [officer’s] duty belt, threatening to dispossess the officer of his firearm.” He concluded, “There is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case.”
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