Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has concluded an investigation regarding injuries a woman sustained at Barrie Police headquarters on August 22, with no grounds to convict.
In the early morning hours on the day in question, officers were called to an address in Barrie where a woman was refusing to leave a rideshare vehicle and had jumped into the front seat, attempting to drive. Officers arrived at 1:06 a.m., and she was eventually arrested without incident for public intoxication.
At about 6:50 a.m., while in a police cell, the woman's behaviour became increasingly erratic and she eventually began striking her head against the wall causing a significant head injury. Several officers attended once alerted, and they tried unsuccessfully to get her to step out of the cell.
Officers then entered the cell, restrained the woman, and she was subsequently transported to the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) by ambulance after paramedics administered two rounds of sedation. There, she was treated for serious scalp lacerations and was found to have amphetamines and benzodiazepines in her system.
Barrie Police then contacted the SIU at 12:29 p.m. and further advised that the woman had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with non-life-threatening injuries.
The one subject official invoked his right to not be interviewed, while seven other witnesses were interviewed. Among the evidence reviewed was security footage from the cell block, and footage from two officers' body cameras.
"The evidence indicates that she was regularly checked by special constables," wrote SIU director Joseph Martino in his decision. "The evidence further indicates that her custodians promptly detected her banging her head inside the cell and took action to prevent her harming herself, first by attempting to verbally dissuade her from continuing, and by subsequently entering her cell to physically restrain her. Paramedics were also summoned quickly, and arrived in a timely fashion to assume the Complainant’s care.
"On this record, there is no reason to believe that the [officer], ultimately responsible for the Complainant’s wellbeing while in police cells, transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law."
