A Woodstock police officer won’t face criminal charges stemming from an arrest of a man who suffered a broken nose, the Special Investigations Unit says.
A Woodstock police officer won’t face criminal charges stemming from the arrest of a man who suffered a broken nose, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said.
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Woodstock police were called to a home near Dundas Street and Vansittart Avenue in the evening on March 22, 2024, after a resident reported an assault and property damage, the SIU said in a report.
A 23-year-old man was “impaired by either drugs or alcohol” and “was belligerent with officers and adopted an aggressive posture” when they arrived at the home, the SIU said.
The man was taken to the ground by officers and was handcuffed behind his back, the police watchdog said.
The man was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken nose.
The SIU investigated the actions of one officer who declined to be interviewed, as is their right. SIU investigators interviewed two Woodstock police officers and three civilian witnesses, the report said.
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The disturbance at the Woodstock home wasn’t the first altercation the man had been involved in that evening, the SIU said.
The man was involved in a fight at a Kitchener residence earlier that evening. Video evidence of the altercation shows the man with blood on his face, and “he appeared unsteady on his feet,” the SIU said.
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Joseph Martino, the SIU’s director, said officers used “reasonably necessary force” to take the man to the ground and place handcuffs on him as he physically resisted.
Martino said it was unclear where and when the man suffered the nose injury and referred to the fight in Kitchener.
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He concluded officers responded appropriately and there is no basis to proceed with criminal charges against the officer whose actions were investigated.
As the SIU concludes its investigation into the Woodstock officer, the watchdog announced last week it was launching an investigation into a police shooting in nearby London.
Two London police officers fatally shot an 18-year-old who had stabbed two people at a home on Wellesley Crescent, near the Clarke Road-Trafalgar Street intersection, on July 16. Breanna Broadfoot, 17, later died of her injuries while a man was later released from hospital.
The Special Investigations Unit probes all cases of serious injury, death, police-involved shootings and allegations of sexual assault involving police officers.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
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