The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has determined there’s no reasonable grounds for criminal charges against a Timmins Police officer in relation to a June 2018 incident.
Interim SIU director Joseph Martino’s report on the investigation was released today.
The SIU is an arm's-length agency that investigates police-involved incidents where there has been a death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assaults.
According to the report, Timmins Police responded to a domestic dispute June 2, 2018 around 10 p.m.
A witness told the officer involved that she had been punched, kicked and choked.
An officer located the 20-year-old suspect at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Cedar Street.
When the officer tried to arrest the suspect, the report says he “pulled away, tripped on his own pants and fell to the ground. As the Complainant stood up, the SO (officer) took hold of him again and was able to force him to the ground. The two fought on the ground exchanging punches before the Complainant managed to break free and run in a westerly direction across Cedar Street.”
The officer used a Conducted Energy Weapon, which struck the man in the back. The man was brought to the police station, assessed by paramedics and taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken collarbone.
Two SIU officers were assigned to the case.
Based on the circumstances, the interim director’s analysis says the officer “was entitled to resort to force to effect the complainant’s arrest.”
“On balance, I am satisfied on reasonable grounds that the force in question – the initial takedown executed when the Complainant made it clear he would not surrender peacefully, the punches delivered by the officer while he and the Complainant exchanged blows on the ground, the CEW discharges that followed as the Complainant broke free from the SO and took flight across the roadway, and the simple manpower used to subdue the Complainant and secure him in handcuffs – fell within the range of what was reasonably necessary in the circumstances,” reads the report.
In March, the SIU also cleared the Timmins Police in two other investigations.
They were in relation to the shooting death of Joey Knapaysweet in February 2018 and the death of 62-year-old Agnes Sutherland after her interaction with police.
You can read the director's full report on the June incident here.
