SIU clears city police officer of wrongdoing in arrest

A Windsor police officer has been cleared by the Special Investigations Unit of wrongdoing in connection to the serious injury of a 20-year-old man.

In a report released by the SIU, an arm's-length agency that investigates reports of sexual assault, death or serious injury involving police, director Joseph Martino said he found “no reasonable grounds to believe a Windsor Police Service officer committed a criminal offence.”

Windsor police received 911 calls Jan. 1 about a man causing a disturbance and assaulting people on Bruce Avenue, Shepherd Street West and York and Wahketa streets.

The man ran from police but when an officer tackled him to the ground the suspect punched the officer in the head.

An officer again caught up to the fleeing man and took him down.

There was a struggle and an officer punched the man in the head two or three times, while another officer used a Taser-type weapon.

The SIU investigated after the man was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken left wrist.

While it was not clear if the man broke his wrist before or during the police interaction, Martino found no basis for proceeding with charges.

“On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the SO (subject officer) committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant's arrest and injury,” Martino wrote.

The subject officer is not named. Martino went on to say, “The complainant was struggling at the time and refusing to release his hands to be handcuffed.

“It was important in the moment to quickly subdue the complainant in light of his violence and I am unable to reasonably conclude that the punches — about two to three of them — constituted excessive force in context, particularly as the strikes did not succeed in releasing the complainant's arms.

“With respect to the force brought to bear in aid of the complainant's arrest, I am satisfied that it was legally justified,” he said.