Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared a Chatham-Kent officer after a man suffered an injury during an arrest this past spring.
The director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Joseph Martino, said he found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offense during the arrest and injury of a 22-year-old man on April 1.
That night, Chatham-Kent police officers were sent to a Wallaceburg home after a resident called police to report a break and enter.
The officers arrived to find a man seated and passed out on the front porch of the home. He was allegedly intoxicated and in violation of a condition of a release order that he live with his grandfather, the SIU stated in a July 29 release.
The man was arrested, handcuffed and carried to a cruiser, where he allegedly resisted the officers’ efforts to place him in the rear of the vehicle.
To bring the man’s legs into the vehicle, one of the officers reportedly kneed the man several times, the SIU statement added. Another officer deployed his conducted energy weapon in drive-stun mode on three occasions. The man was also reportedly punched.
Once the man was fully in the vehicle, he was taken to the station and lodged in a cell. The following day, he complained of pain and was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a ruptured bladder and lacerated liver.
“It remains unclear when precisely the man’s injuries were inflicted. While there is evidence to suggest they were caused prior to the officers’ interventions, there is also evidence that the injuries were the result of the force of perhaps an errant knee strike by one of the officers,” the SIU release stated.
“Be that as it may, director Martino was satisfied there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer behaved himself other than lawfully in his engagement with the man.”
The SIU added there is “no basis for proceeding with criminal charges” and that the file has been closed.
SIU civilian investigators probe the actions of Ontario police officers that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.