SIU clears officers in Brampton arrest where suspect suffered facial fracture
Published February 25, 2022 at 6:34 pm
The provincial police watchdog has cleared an officer after a 19-year-old suspect suffered a reported facial fracture during an arrest in Brampton last fall.
The Ontario Special Investigations Unit, which investigates whenever a person dies or is injured during an encounter with police, says it “has found no reasonable grounds to believe that a York Regional Police officer committed a criminal offence” during an arrest. Last Oct. 29, York police officers who were responding to a woman’s report that her car had been stolen followed the suspected vehicle thief to a parking lot on Intermodal Dr. in Brampton.
After the suspect/complainant got out of the car, the subject officer approached him to place him under arrest. In his report, SIU Technical Director Joseph Martino said that the suspect “strenuous resisted arrest.” Martino determined that the officer struck the complainant twice before forcing him to the ground and handcuffing him.
At the hospital, the complainant was diagnosed with a broken left orbital bone.
“I am unable to reasonably conclude that they (the two punches) were unlawful,” Martino wrote. “The Complainant strenuously resisted his arrest on his feet. He grabbed the SO (subject officer) and pushed and pulled violently attempting to free himself from the officer’s grasp. In the circumstances, it would appear that a punch designed to deter any further aggression fell within the realm of justifiable force, as did a second one when the Complainant continued to resist.”
Decisions made by the SIU cannot be appealed. The full report, which contains graphic content that might shock, offend and upset, is viewable at siu.on.ca.
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