Use of force warranted by police in injured suspect’s arrest, SIU says

The province’s Special Investigations Unit says no criminal charges are warranted against Niagara Regional Police officers in the case of a 35-year-old St. Catharines man injured while being arrested last fall.

A report by SIU director Joseph Martino looking into the Nov. 17, 2019, incident said it’s clear the fractured orbital bone of the man’s right eye was sustained “when he was taken to the ground” by the arresting officers.

However, Martino said he is “satisfied that this level of force was reasonably necessary in the circumstances to gain control over the complainant and to place him in handcuffs.”

The incident occurred after police responded to a report of a man, whom the SIU did not identify, appeared intoxicated near a Walmart store at 420 Vansickle Rd. in St. Catharines.

The report listed several interactions with staff at several nearby businesses, as well as an aggressive confrontation between the man and his father in the parking lot of the businesses.

Through the investigation, which included reviewing security camera footage and interviews with witnesses, the SIU determined the man got into the driver’s seat of his father’s car and reached for the gear shift.

The man then aggressively grabbed his father’s jacket and refused to let go, “exhibiting extreme strength” as his father and the arresting officers were unable to get him to let go of his father.

The report said one of the officers delivered two distractionary punches to the left side of the man’s face, which appeared to have no effect. Another officer wrapped his arms around the man’s legs, sweeping them out from under him and causing him to fall when he struck his face on the rear bumper of the police vehicle. Although bleeding from his face, the man continued to resist as police officers handcuffed him. The man was transported to hospital where it was determined he had sustained a fracture to the orbital bone of his right eye.

The SIU report said the level of force used by police “was reasonably necessary in the circumstances, and as such, no charges will issue.”