The province’s police watchdog has cleared two Woodstock police officers of any wrongdoing after a 17-year-old teen fractured their right ankle when they jumped from a pedestrian bridge into a ravine last month.
The incident happened Sept. 8 when officers were called to the Finkle Street pedestrian bridge for a report of a young male in distress, the Special Investigations Unit said in a statement Thursday.
According to the SIU, the teen had left a home in Woodstock and was heading toward the bridge while being followed by a family member, who contacted police.
Officers arrived and managed to convince the boy to make his way toward them and “thereafter engaged him in conversation for a few minutes,” the agency’s statement says.
“Suddenly, he turned, ran toward the bridge railing and jumped, landing in a ravine below,” the SIU statement says, adding he was taken to hospital for what was later determined to be a fractured ankle.
In a statement, the SIU’s interim director, Joseph Martino, said the investigation was terminated after it was determined neither officer involved “caused or contributed to the man’s self-inflicted injury in any manner that could attract criminal liability.”