Six officers cleared in man’s arrest

Six Victoria police officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the arrest of a mentally ill man who suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung, the province’s police watchdog has ruled.

The officers’ actions were under investigation by the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. after it appeared that the man had been seriously injured during his arrest.

On June 5, 2017, the man was seen on the front lawn of his housing complex burning a pair of rubber boots with a blowtorch. Later that day, a neighbour complained about the smell of burning rubber. The complaint was reported to 911.

The first officer who arrived on the scene told the man he was not in trouble. The first two police officers told him not to use the blowtorch in or near the building.

Then the officers went to speak to a mental-health professional who told them that some neighbours were fearful of the man because he had threatened to kill one of them. The officers were also told that two weeks earlier, the man had cut the live electrical wire for his stove and discarded his stove on the lawn.

The officers decided the man was acting in a manner likely to endanger his own safety or the safety of others. They decided to take him to the hospital under the Mental Health Act.

When the officers went to his door to arrest him, he had tools in his hand that he refused to put down. The officers told him to co-operate and not to struggle, but according to civilian witnesses, the man was yelling and flailing around.

The man told the IIO he thought he had been using methamphetamine that day and has delusions when he uses the drug. However, he didn’t believe it had any bearing on the incident.

The first officer radioed for backup and three other officers were dispatched. A sixth officer also arrived on scene.

The first officer spoke quietly with the man, who was lying faceup on the ground. He asked him: “Can we get you sitting up?” Although the man agreed, he tried to run away.

It took all six officers to restrain the man and get him on an ambulance stretcher. He was strapped down and taken to hospital.

At the hospital, he was found to have two fractures of the right fifth rib and a fracture of the sixth and eighth rib and a collapsed lung.

None of the witnesses, neither civilian nor police, suggested excessive or unreasonable force was used to apprehend the man, the IIO report says.

All the witnesses agreed that the man was unreasonably unco-operative with the police.

“There is no evidence that any officer used excessive or unreasonable force,” the report says.

“The evidence collected does not provide grounds to consider any charges against any officer. Indeed, the evidence shows that the officers acted as required by their duties and in accordance with the law.”

The report notes that there is no evidence to show the injury occurred during the man’s interaction with police.

“However, if it did, it was an accidental result of an ongoing struggle and not from excessive or unnecessary force of the officers. Indeed, the evidence of the civilian witnesses supports the conclusion that the officers acted entirely appropriately throughout.”

The IIO investigates all cases of police-involved serious injuries or death.