Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) have ruled not to issue charges against Nottawasaga OPP officers in relation to a man's broken kneecap sustained during an arrest in Alliston on November 17, 2024.
Just before 9 p.m. that evening, a superintendent of a building at Young Street and King Street South had called 911 to report a domestic dispute between a husband and wife after hearing yelling, doors slamming, and children screaming.
Upon arrival to the basement residence, officers arrested a 42-year-old man on three counts of uttering threats and two counts of assault, according to the director's report.
However, as he was being escorted out of the building by two officers, he reportedly began to walk quickly and disobeyed police demands to slow down. As they reached the parking lot, one officer yanked on the man’s left arm from behind to slow him down and change trajectory towards a police cruiser.
"That tactic, in my view, was reasonable and executed with appropriate force, SIU director Joseph Martino wrote in his report.
The man was jerked backwards, but restarted his forward progress until the officer repeated his pullback. That caused the man to fall to the ground, with his knee hitting a sewer grate in the process, causing a fracture.
Martino said that the man offered a story in which he was kicked in the back of the knee, causing him to go down, but video evidence reviewed refutes that claim.
"If true, that account would give rise to legitimate concerns about unwarranted force given the Complainant’s vulnerable situation at the time," he wrote.
The director's report indicates that paramedics arrived on scene at 9:12 p.m. and, within four minutes, the arrestee was placed on a stretcher with police assistance before being brought to hospital.
SIU officials were dispatched to the scene the following morning. One of the two officers was eventually interviewed for the investigation, while both of them declined to provide their notes, as is their right.
Among the evidence reviewed in the investigation was video footage from the apartment building; interviews from five witnesses, as well as one officer and the complainant; and other OPP communications recordings.
"I am unable to reasonably conclude that the evidence of unlawful force by [the officer] is sufficiently cogent to warrant being put to the test by a court," Martino wrote in his decision, also saying that a second officer's conduct also fell short of justifying criminal charges.
