Ontario's police watchdog says there are no grounds on which to charge OPP officers after a man suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung during his arrest.
The Special Investigations Unit invoked its mandate after the April 2 incident at the Norfolk OPP detachment in Simcoe. According to the SIU's final report, a 68-year-old man went to the detachment to be interviewed about historical offences. Officers decided to arrest the man and he became combative.
One of the officers pinned the man against a wall and then took him to the floor. While on the ground, the man flailed his legs and refused to take his arms out from underneath his torse in order to be handcuffed. The SIU report said one of the officers spotted a knife in the man's hand. An officer delivered three knee strikes to the man's torso, which allowed another officer to take the knife from the man's hand.
More officers arrived on the scene and the struggle with the man continued. It ended when one of the officers used a Conductive Energy Weapon on the man. He was then handcuffed and taken to a cell. A while later, the man complained of pain and was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with three broken ribs and a punctured lung.
"Confronted with a physically recalcitrant individual, armed for a period with a knife and refusing to surrender his hands, the knee strikes and CEW deployment do not seem to me to be a disproportionate or excessive use of force," said SIU interim director Joseph Martino. " am satisfied that the force used by the officers was legally justified. Accordingly, there are no grounds for proceeding with charges in this case and the file is closed."
The full report can be found here.
