The province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared London police of any wrongdoing after a 22-year-old man was hurt while being arrested earlier this year.
Police received several 911 calls about a possible impaired driver in the area of Commissioners Road East and Wharncliffe Road South just before noon on March 14. Police were told the driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel of the vehicle and ran a red light, nearly hitting a cyclist, upon waking up.
Officers later located the suspect vehicle on Tecumseh Avenue West. The driver was asleep and the engine was still running.
According to the SIU, police used their cruisers to box in the vehicle and then tapped on the window to wake the driver. It was at this point, the driver awoke and began to accelerate back and forth hitting the cruisers nine times.
Officers used their batons to break two of the windows in order to reach inside the vehicle to stop the driver. Two of the officers tried to grab hold of him while another put the vehicle in park. The driver was struck in the head during this time.
He was eventually pulled from the parked vehicle and arrested. The man was taken to hospital where he was treated for a finger fracture.
"The officers had good reason to believe that the [driver] was intoxicated and would constitute a real risk of harm on the roadways were he allowed to escape," SIU Director Joseph Martino wrote in his decision. "Given the exigencies of the moment, up against an individual determined to get away, I am unable to fault the officer for delivering the strikes after his efforts to wrestle control of the gear shift had proven unsuccessful. I am further satisfied that the [driver's] forcible extrication from the vehicle and takedown to the roadway was lawful."
Martino concluded the officers used force within the limits of the criminal law.
"Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case."
As an independent government agency, the SIU investigates incidents involving police officers in which there has been death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault.
