Toronto horse cop cleared after trucker convoy protester injured

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Published April 5, 2022 at 11:05 am

Justin Tang, Canadian Press

The Ontario police watchdog says a woman who claimed she was injured by a police horse during the truck convoy protest was not seriously hurt.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was looking into police behaviour during the large-scale police operation to disperse protests in downtown Ottawa that gridlocked the city’s downtown for weeks starting in January.

The blockades, which at times also shuttered several border crossings, were demanding an end to all COVID-19 mandates, but some also wanted to force the Liberal government out of office.

A 49-year-old woman said she was hurt by a Toronto Police Service officer on horseback on Feb. 18, but the SIU says her medical records show she suffered a strained shoulder.

The SIU found that the woman “did not sustain any fractures and that her injury was limited to a strained shoulder.”

The watchdog said she did not sustain a “serious injury,” and the SIU’s Director Joseph Martino has terminated an investigation.

After the incident, false reports spread quickly online that a woman was trampled to death by a police horse.

It took hundreds of police officers from across Canada to bring an end to the Ottawa blockades and more than 100 people have been charged.

The SIU is the independent civilian government agency that investigates the conduct of police officers which may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault, and the discharge of a firearm at a person.

With files from Ryan Rumbolt

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