The SIU has determined charges aren’t warranted after a Midland woman complained of a broken arm following her arrest last fall.
The 32-year-old woman, who is not identified in the report approved by Special Investigations Unit director Joseph Martino, was arrested on Sept. 25 shortly before 7 p.m. after the OPP received a domestic dispute-related call. The woman was reported to be yelling and screaming at her boyfriend on her front porch.
Upon arrival at the single-family home, an unidentified Southern Georgian Bay OPP officer arrested the woman for breach of the peace and took her to the detachment where she placed in a jail cell. She was released from custody at 11:30 p.m.
However, the woman contacted the OPP the following evening to report that her right arm had been fractured in the course of the arrest. She further mentioned that she attended the Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH), saw a physician and had her arm placed in a cast.
But in its investigation, three SIU personnel assigned to the case heard from another officer who drove the woman home at 11:30 p.m. after she was released from custody. The officer said the woman didn’t complain of any injuries and was also seen using her right hand to sign paperwork at the detachment.
Also, police officers who were at GBGH for an unrelated incident learned the physician the woman allegedly saw had not worked at the hospital since September 6.
In the end, the police watchdog determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the arresting officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the woman’s arrest.
Neither the complainant nor responding officer were formally interviewed by SIU investigators with the officer providing his/her notes from the evening in question.
“The following scenario emerges on the evidence collected by the SIU, which consisted of the accounts of several witness officers. Neither the SO (subject officer) nor the Complainant, as was their right, agreed to be interviewed by the SIU,” the watchdog’s report reads.
The report goes on to describe the evening’s events, including officers’ notes taken during an interview with the woman’s partners.
“The Complainant’s partner was found outside the home sitting on the curb,” the report reads. “He told the officers that the Complainant, who could be heard from inside the home yelling and swearing, had threatened to hit him with a baseball bat. The commotion drew the attention of neighbours.
“The Complainant opened the front door as the SO made his way onto the porch in front of the entrance. A brief struggle ensued between the two as the officer attempted to arrest the Complainant for a breach of the peace. The SO took the Complainant to the ground on the lawn and, with the help of (two other officers), handcuffed the Complainant without further incident.”
Martino said that based on his assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the subject officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the woman’s arrest.
“The evidence surrounding the nature and extent of the Complainant’s injury is very sketchy,” Martino added. “The Complainant told the OPP that following her release from custody she attended the GBGH, where she was diagnosed and treated for a right arm fracture.
“The hospital, however, has no record of her attendance at the facility. In their interviews with the SIU, the witness officers, all of whom dealt with the Complainant at one point or another during her time in custody, say that the Complainant neither complained of any injury nor presented as injured.”
The woman also refused to authorize the release of her medical records, Martino noted.
“In the circumstances, it remains uncertain whether the Complainant did in fact sustain a fracture as she reported to the police,” he wrote. “Be that as it may, there is insufficient evidence to reasonably conclude that the SO acted unlawfully in his interaction with the Complainant, whether or not the Complainant’s arm was fractured in the course of the arrest.
“Based on the information the officers received at dispatch and the Complainant’s behaviour at the scene, the officers had cause to believe that the Complainant was intoxicated, threatening violence against those present outside her door, and causing a disturbance through her belligerence and profanity.
“In the result, as there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the SO acted other than lawfully in the course of his dealings with the Complainant, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case, and the file is closed.”
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians.
