Ontario's police watchdog has cleared St. Thomas police of any wrongdoing in an arrest that saw a man's kneecap fractured earlier this year.
The incident happened on the afternoon of May 11 when police were trying to arrest a 37-year-old man who was wanted on a warrant. The man tried to get away from police on a bicycle that did not have functioning brakes.
Officers tried several times to get the man to stop before one officer decided to pull his cruiser across the sidewalk along Elm Street near Hepburn Avenue, blocking the man's path. When the man came to the cruiser, he tried to maneuver around it, but ended up crashing into the rear driver’s side of the vehicle. The impact sent the man tumbling.
He was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured kneecap.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was contacted and sent five investigators and two forensic investigators to probe the incident. They determined the man had given police "clear indication" he was not going to stop, with witnesses remarking to investigators how fast the man was pedaling his bike.
"I am unable to reasonably conclude that the tactic the [officer] adopted was an unreasonable one given that the [man] was on a bike and unlikely to be caught by police officers on foot. Nor does it appear that the maneuver was performed recklessly," SIU Director Joseph Martino wrote in his final report.
He went on to note that the officer had left sufficient space for the man to safely stop his bike "had he been so inclined."
"While I accept that the [man's] fractured knee was the result of his impact with the [officer's] cruiser, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that he caused or contributed to the collision by way of conduct that was criminal in nature. Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges against the officer, and the file is closed," Martino concluded.
