The Pickering arrest investigation by the SIU has ended without criminal charges after Ontario’s police watchdog reviewed the injury of a 39-year-old man during a July police takedown.
In a November 4 release, the Special Investigations Unit said Director Joseph Martino found no reasonable grounds to believe an officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s arrest and broken nose.
The director’s report, dated November 3, concerns case 26-OCI-314. The arrest took place in the parking lot of the Pickering Playing Fields at 1610 Bayly Street on July 9.
Investigation followed a Vaughan break-in report
York Regional Police had responded that morning to a report of a break and enter in Vaughan. With assistance from a police helicopter, officers tracked a related vehicle to Pickering.
The SIU’s final narrative describes officers surrounding a Honda Odyssey in the parking lot and pulling its driver and a rear-seat occupant from the vehicle. Officers used force on the ground before the individuals were handcuffed and taken into custody.
The injured man initially declined medical treatment but was later taken to hospital and diagnosed with a fractured nose, according to the watchdog.
Evidence included video and medical records
Investigators reviewed police helicopter footage, body-worn and in-car camera recordings, station video, communications recordings, witness information and medical records.
Martino considered conflicting accounts of the force used. One version alleged the man was struck without resisting. Other evidence described a struggle during removal from the vehicle and continued resistance on the ground.
The director said helicopter footage called aspects of the incriminating account into question. He concluded there was no evidentiary basis to prefer it over the officers’ account and no reasonable grounds to attribute the injury to unlawful conduct by the subject official.
Decision addresses criminal liability
The SIU decision closes its criminal investigation into the arrest and injury. It is not a finding about the outcome of any separate prosecution arising from the reported break and enter.
The watchdog investigates police-related incidents involving death, serious injury, alleged sexual assault or firearm discharge at a person. In this case, its task was to determine whether there were grounds to lay a criminal charge against an officer.
The full director’s report sets out the evidence, competing accounts and reasons for closing the file. Durham Radio News also reported the decision on November 4.
