Police officer won’t face charges after man injured during arrest in Mississauga: SIU

 

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says a Peel Regional Police officer won't face any charges in connection with a leg injury that a 50-year-old man sustained during an arrest in Mississauga. 

According to the SIU report, a man called 911 around 1:30 am on July 18, 2020, to request an ambulance for his brother who was bleeding profusely from his left hand. The report says the caller said his brother—who was eventually injured over the course of his arrest—was "significantly inebriated" and had cut himself on some broken glass. The man said that his brother was "violent and out of control," so paramedics asked that police also attend the home on Strabane Drive, where the incident occurred. 

When several officers and the ambulance arrived, an officer reportedly assured the injured man that the police and paramedics were there to help him. The report says that although the man allowed paramedics to examine his hand, he became belligerent when he was told he'd need further medical attention and said that he "preferred to die and wanted to be left alone." 

According to the report, the man lifted himself off of the ground and approached an officer who reacted by taking hold of the man's right arm while another officer grabbed his left. 

The report says the man struggled briefly before he was taken down by an officer, landing awkwardly with his right leg pinned underneath his chest in a distorted position. The report says the officers, with the help of paramedics, lifted him so he could straighten out his leg. He was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with serious injuries, including a fracture of the fibular head of his right knee.

Joseph Martino, the director of the SIU, says there are no reasonable grounds to believe the officer involved in the takedown committed a criminal offence. 

"While I have no doubt that the takedown is responsible for the [man's] right leg injuries, I am unable to reasonably conclude on the evidence that the maneuver amounted to excessive force," Martino wrote in the report, adding that man had threatened officers and was behaving in a  "belligerent and volatile manner." 

"…Though it is regrettable that the [man] suffered serious injuries in the course of his arrest, there are no reasonable grounds, in my view, to believe that the [officer] conducted himself other than in compliance with the criminal law throughout their interaction." 

Martino says that the file is now closed.