SIU clears officers after man left with three broken ribs during arrest in Cambridge

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has found there are no reasonable grounds to charge a Waterloo Regional Police officer after a 31-year-old man suffered broken ribs during a 2023 arrest in Cambridge.

According to the SIU, officers were dispatched to a home in the area of Avenue Road and Elgin Street North on June 23, 2023, following a 911 call by the woman who owned the property.

The caller was reporting a break and enter in progress by a family member.

Concerned for her safety, the caller indicated she would wait outside in her vehicle pending the arrival of the police.

The woman told police the man did not have a lease at the house and was not supposed to be there and confirmed he had forced his way into the residence.

The officers decided to arrest the man for break and enter.

After several door knocks by the officers, the man stepped out onto the front porch. Told that he was under arrest, the man tensed up and pulled away from the officers as they attempted to position his arms behind the back, the SIU report notes.

The man was grounded by the officers, and subjected to several strikes and stun gun discharges before he was handcuffed behind the back.

Following his arrest, the man was placed in the rear seat of a police cruiser, where he said he had not broken into the house but, rather, had entered the house with a key. The man would go on to produce a rent receipt.

Satisfied that the man’s family member had exaggerated her claim of break and enter, and that he had an apparent colour of right to the property, the officers released him unconditionally.

The man would later go to the hospital hospital of his own volition, where he was diagnosed with three fractured ribs.

SIU director Joseph Martino said in a Feb. 23 news release he was satisfied the subject officer involved in the arrest and other officers were within their rights to attempt to arrest the man for break and enter and, had they more time, come to realize the man did not force his way into the home.

He added, at the time, police believed the man had committed a violent act based on what his family member was saying and thought he might have access to firearms as they knew he had a firearms license. It was imperative to take him into custody as soon as possible.

Once they learned what had actually happened, Martino said they released him quickly.

Martino noted he was unable to reasonably conclude that the use of force was not legally justified.

He said the takedown seemed to be in order and since the man pulled away from officers and refused to be handcuffed, taking him to the ground would allow officers to better manage any continuing resistance.

Martino noted there was a conflict of versions of events that followed. One version is the man did not resist on the ground, but was given a hefty kick to the left side and multiple stun gun charges.

The officers’ version of force was scaled and proportionate to the moment, with multiple strikes by one officer and two strikes to the thigh by another to overcome the man’s resistance.

When that didn’t work, a conducted energy weapon was fired at the upper left shoulder and lower right thigh of the man to place him in handcuffs.

“In the face of this discrepancy, it would be unwise and unsafe to proceed with charges. Simply put, there is nothing in the evidence to suggest that the account depicting undue force is likelier to be any closer to the truth than that proffered by the officers,” Martino stated in the release.

“While I accept that the complainant’s injuries were probably incurred in the altercation that marked his arrest on June 23, 2023, I am not reasonably satisfied that they are attributable to any unlawful conduct on the part of the subject officer, or the other officers. ”

The SIU is a civilian law enforcement agency that investigates incidents involving an official where there has been death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm at a person or an allegation of sexual assault.

‘‘ While I accept that the complainant’s injuries were probably incurred in the altercation that marked his arrest on June 23, 2023, I am not reasonably satisfied that they are attributable to any unlawful conduct.

JOSEPH MARTINO SIU DIRECTOR