SIU finds no wrong after man injured
Officers acted lawfully during an altercation with a suspect which resulted in a 48-year-old Welland man suffering a broken nose while being arrested late last year, says a report from Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit.
On the evening of Dec. 13, 2021, officers attended a home to investigate a hit-and-run that had occurred earlier.
In the collision at the intersection of West Main and Niagara streets, a pickup truck failed to stop for a red light and collided with the front end of a black sedan, causing the front bumper to be “sheared off,” said the report from the SIU.
The pickup truck was driven off but returned a short time later, at which point the driver got out, picked up the bumper and placed it in the rear of the truck before leaving again.
Soon after, two police officers went to a Fitch Street apartment in Welland where they attempted to arrest a suspect. A struggle ensued, which resulted in a facial injury to the suspect.
He was taken by paramedics to Welland hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured nose.
SIU director Joseph Martino concluded there was no evidence to believe either officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant’s arrest and injury.
“On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that either subject official committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant’s arrest and injury,” wrote Martino.
He said the evidence establishes the officers “were within their rights in seeking to arrest the complainant” and “had reasonable grounds to believe that he had fled the scene of an accident and had been driving while impaired by alcohol.”
Martino wrote that one officer tackled the complainant onto his living room sofa, and then grappled with him, together with other officers, two of whom arrived after the first two.
“It is clear that the complainant struggled against the officers’ efforts to effect his arrest. He had attempted to run back into his apartment to avoid apprehension and, once through the patio door, fought with the officers as they physically engaged him,” wrote Martino, adding that at one point an officer was pushed backwards.
There is “some evidence” that the complainant was elbowed by one of the officers in the physical altercation that marked his arrest, but it would be “unwise and unsafe to rest charges on strength of this evidence,” said Martino.
Martino wrote that the complainant broke his nose “in the course of the skirmish with the officers,” concluding that there are “no reasonable grounds” to believe involved officers “comported themselves other than lawfully throughout their engagement.”
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of police that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm.