Though the director of Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit said in a report that a Stratford police officer fell short in his duty of care towards an 18-month-old boy found deceased in a Stratford home in February 2021, he ruled there are no reasonable grounds to charge the officer with criminal negligence.
Ontario’s police watchdog has found no reasonable grounds to believe a Stratford police officer was criminally negligent in the February 2021 death of an 18-month-old boy.
While the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) determined the officer fell short in his duty of care towards the child, his conduct did not violate the limits of care prescribed by criminal law, agency director Joseph Martino wrote in a report released Tuesday.
“At the very least, in my view, the (subject officer) was aware of detailed information and alarming enough to have warranted a call to the child welfare authorities,” Martino wrote. “That did not happen. I am also not satisfied that the (officer) did enough to investigate the information they had received. … What is less clear is whether the officer’s indiscretions … amounted to a marked and substantial departure from a reasonable level of care. In the final analysis, I am unable to reasonably conclude that they did for the aforementioned reasons, recognizing the high standard required to make out criminal negligence.”
According to the SIU report, the toddler’s lifeless body was discovered by first responders in the early morning hours on Feb. 16, 2021. The infant was taken to hospital and pronounced dead just before 5 am
Several weeks earlier, Stratford police had been alerted to concerns about an unidentified child’s welfare as a result of maltreatment by the parents, who were reported to be drug users.
According to information provided by an official witness during the investigation, she and the officer had unsuccessfully tried to identify the unknown parents through checks of police records and social media sites. She then prepared a report that was shared with other officers, none of whom were able to provide information about parents’ identities. The matter was not reported to child welfare authorities.
A Stratford police crime analyst was also consulted, but she too couldn’t find any links between the information about the child’s parents and police records.
Since concerns had been raised, there were questions raised about the efforts made to identify the child and his parents in the wake of the toddler’s death. The SIU was contacted by the police department and began its investigation to determine if enough was done to prevent the toddler’s death.
“The (subject officer) arguably failed in this duty,” Martino wrote in his findings. “The information he was aware of was alarming to say the least. It also appears to have been actionable – the perpetrators of the maltreatment were identified as the parents of the child and described by their first names. The approximate location of their residence was also identified.
“(The witness) suggests that she and the (officer) tried to identify the parents, but one wonders how diligent their search was. An online search performed by an SIU investigator was able to find the approximate location of their home in fairly short order, and persons interviewed by the SIU who resided in the area were all well aware of the suspects and the predicament of the child. More to the point, the fact is that neither the (subject officer) nor (the official witness) reported the matter to a child welfare authority. That inaction, in my view, placed the (toddler) at unnecessary risk of bodily harm and even death.”
Martino did suggest it was unfair to say the subject officer did nothing with the information.
“He and (the witness), having assessed the strength of the information, were apparently of the view that it was vague and conflicting. Accordingly, it was decided that they would wait until they had obtained more information before determining their next course of action.”
Martino also noted that at least three other people had already called child welfare authorities to report concerns about the mother neglecting her children and using drugs, suggesting further investigation by the officer was unlikely to uncover any new information that would have allowed for intervention.
An expert on child development interviewed by SIU investigators said intervention would have taken the form of child welfare authorities bringing the infant to a medical professional.
“In fact, the (infant) had a medical appointment with his family doctor on Jan. 27, 2021 – three weeks prior to his death. The (infant) was there with his parents for his 18-month checkup. The doctor took note of (his) weight and height, and referred him to a pediatrician to be assessed for developmental delay. While the (infant) possibly may have received more intensive treatment if brought to the emergency department, I acknowledge that the evidence of causation, as it stands, is relatively frail.
The SIU probes all cases of death, serious injuries, allegations of sexual assault and gunfire involving police officers.