Cop cleared in teen injury
13- year- old threatened to kill Pelham residence employee; later gnawed on police cruiser
A Niagara Regional Police officer won’t face criminal charges in relation to a serious injury sustained by a 13- year- old girl who threatened to kill an employee of a Pelham residence she was staying at in October 2016, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit says.
SIU director Tony Loparco on Tuesday released his report on the incident.
“On Oct. 2, the complainant threw a dish of food at an employee at her residence, ripped a railing from the wall in a hallway of the home, and then threatened to kill the employee,” the report said.
Police were called to the home and when they arrived, found the girl in her bedroom. Two officers, a witness officer and subject officer were in the room. Loparco said the female complainant was subject to a September 2016 court- ordered condition that she keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
The witness officer told the girl she was about to be arrested for breaching her condition, and the female backed up into a corner of the room on her bed. In front of both officers, she broke a plastic coat hanger and tried to cut her forearms using the broken end. Both officers pulled her to the edge of the bed and onto the floor.
Once on the floor, the girl continued to struggle, kicking at the officers and banging her head on the floor, the SIU report continued.
“In an effort to handcuff the complainant ( the female), the SO ( subject officer) delivered an open hand strike somewhere on the complainant’s head. She was subdued and arrested and handcuffed. As the police officers tried to bring the complainant through the hallway to the cruiser, the complainant threw herself to the floor, landing on her left side. She also banged the back of her head two or three times against the wall,” the report said, adding the female kicked and spit at police.
The report also said once the female was placed in the back of the police cruiser, she started to bite the roll- bar and the headrest.
Loparco’s report said the next day, the female was transported to hospital and diagnosed with an acute concussion.
“The complainant’s medical records noted bruising on the right side of the complainant’s head, behind her right eye. The complainant alleges that after she was taken to the ground, the SO banged the left side of her head on the floor, and then punched the right side of her face and upper right cheek. The SO acknowledges striking the complainant in an effort to gain control and handcuff the youth. The issue, therefore, is whether the SO used excessive force in his efforts to handcuff the complainant.”
Loparco’s report said the female was arrestable at the scene for several offences, including threatening death, mischief to property and failing to comply with a court condition, and that it was clear the two officers were lawfully attempting to arrest her.
“I also have no doubt that the complainant was resisting the police officers’ attempts to arrest and handcuff her. All of the witnesses are consistent on her squirming and struggling while the officers are trying to handcuff her. In the complainant’s effort to resist her arrest, she went so far as to kick at the police officers, as well as grab a clothes hanger, break it in half, and attempt to injure herself. All of this was happening in a small room that was littered with debris. And although the complainant was only 13 years old, she was a large person, and clearly had significant strength. Given the danger her actions posed both to her own safety and the safety of the attending police officers, they were justified in taking the complainant to the ground and onto her stomach.” The report said there were significant concerns about the reliability and credibility of the complainant’s recollection of the events, given inconsistencies in the versions she provided to SIU investigators and at the hospital; clear attempts to minimize her own conduct that morning; and contradictions between the female’s version and what was witnessed by civilian.
“Given the consistent observations by witnesses that the complainant hit her head on the wall several times as she was being led out of the house, I also cannot conclude that the complainant’s injuries were caused by the subject officer’s actions that morning. The complainant’s efforts at selfharm provide an alternative explanation for the observed bruises and tenderness to her head, and reported dizziness afterwards. Nonetheless, even if the subject officer’s head strike caused the complainant’s concussion, I find that it was done in the course of his attempts to handcuff a large, strong person in a small, littered and confined space, while the complainant was kicking and struggling to prevent his efforts.”
Loparco said he had no reasonable basis to believe that the subject officer committed a criminal offence and said there were no grounds for proceeding with charges in the case.
The full copy of the report can be found here: www. ontario. ca/ page/ siu- directors- report- case- 16oci- 297.