Ontario's Special Investigation Unit (SIU) believes a South Simcoe Police officer is not responsible for a fractured left knee suffered by a 40-year-old woman during an arrest in 2023.
The decision from SIU director Joseph Martino stemmed from officer testimony that insists an unreasonable amount of force was not used when arresting the woman.
On March 10, 2023, the complainant had called SSPS to report a domestic dispute at her boyfriend's parent's residence in Innisfil, during which she was struck by him.
Once officers responded, they arrested the man for assault with the intention that he would be released at the scene and returned inside once the complainant was relocated, with the condition that he couldn't contact the complainant.
The boyfriend denied assaulting the woman, saying she was violent and a repeat offender. He added that he had asked her to move out by the end of the month and mentioned her depression medication, which she did not take because she drank.
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The woman and her boyfriend had resided in an upstairs room in the residence, but once being asked to leave, the woman claimed she had already paid the rent and otherwise had nowhere to go.
She then sat on a bed, went limp, and declined to get up. Eventually dropped to the floor, landing on her knees, and complained of pain in her left knee.
Police insisted she must leave, and offered to set her up in a woman’s shelter in Barrie, which was confirmed by submitted recorded evidence.
The Complainant was given some time to collect her belongings. However, when it was deemed she was taking too long to vacate the home, she was subsequently arrested for trespassing. But during the arrest process, she injured her knee after falling, resulting in the fracture.
Martino says that the lawfulness of the arrest remains unclear.
"She was in her bedroom at the time, for which she paid rent, and had not been provided much of an opportunity to vacate the premises at the request of the homeowners," he said in his decision. "On the other hand, boarders, like the Complainant, do not have the same rights of notice as do tenants. They are entitled to reasonable notice of eviction, and that depends on the circumstances at hand.
"In this matter, there is an arguable case that the officers were entitled to enforce a very quick notice period in light of the domestic disturbance that had just occurred and a desire to want to keep the Complainant and [her boyfriend] separate following his release."
He adds that while she was rightfully given some time to collect her belongings, police only acted as they did when there was reason to believe she was intentionally delaying the process of forcing her out of the home.
One witness official said that the woman has resisted arrest and pretended that she couldn't walk to avoid leaving. They added that she had no rights to remain in the home as it was her boyfriend’s family’s property.
"On the officers’ rendition of events, no force of any significance was used in taking the Complainant into custody," Martino said. "The medical evidence collected by the SIU regarding the mechanism of injury suggested significant force was applied to cause the injury, but did not unequivocally rule out a self-inflicted injury of the type described by the officers."
An ambulance was dispatched to the home, but she was eventually taken to the shelter by police instead after refusing medical assistance. There, she was refused admittance because it appeared to staff that she was injured and experiencing difficulty walking. Paramedics attended at the facility and transported the her to hospital where the injury was diagnosed.
A civil claim served to SSPS in late summer of 2025 indicated that the woman underwent reconstructive knee surgery on March 12, 2023, to repair a lateral tibial plateau fracture sustained during the arrest. SSPS said in its notification to the SIU it had not been aware of any injury until the civil claim was served.
Martino notes that there is conflicting evidence in the case of why the woman was on the floor. One version outlines that officers threw the woman to the ground after she was handcuffed for no apparent reason, and another recount from officer testimony and their notes from the scene that the woman went limp and fell to the floor when officers released their grip.
The subject officer's notes describe that the woman dropped herself intentionally to the floor on two occasions, the second after she had been handcuffed for trespassing. Other officers say that no force of significance was used while taking her into custody.
In the director's decision, Martino says the medical evidence collected by the SIU suggested significant force was applied to cause the injury, but did not rule out a self-inflicted injury of the type described by the officers.
Four civilian witnesses and three witness officials were interviewed during the investigation. The subject officer invoked their right to not be interviewed, but did allow for their notes to be released.
Among other materials considered by the SIU were phone and radio communications recordings; dispatch, medical, general occurrence, and domestic violence risk management reports; and the woman's medical records from Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH).
"In the circumstances, there being no reason to believe that the incriminating version of what happened is any likelier to be closer to the truth than that offered by the officers, I am unable to conclude on reasonable and probable grounds that excessive force was brought to bear," Martino concluded.
