SIU investigating arrest of Hawkesbury man charged with assaulting OPP officer

A Hawkesbury man accused of assaulting an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer early Sunday was “diagnosed with a serious injury” after his arrest, according to the police watchdog investigating the incident.

Provincial police from the Hawkesbury detachment were called to a residence on Abbott Street in the eastern Ontario town of Hawkesbury shortly after midnight on Sunday, according to a news release from OPP.

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OPP said there was “an altercation as officers attempted to arrest an individual at the scene.” The 39-year-old suspect was arrested and taken to the local detachment, where, hours later, he “complained of an injury,” the release said.

OPP then notified Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) about the injury.

“Preliminary information” that the SIU has about the incident suggests provincial police were responding to a noise complaint, according to a written statement sent by an SIU spokesperson on Monday afternoon.

The man police arrested was taken to hospital, released back into police custody and then placed in a cell at the OPP’s Hawkesbury detachment, the statement said.

The man was taken to hospital a second time after he complained of pain and “was diagnosed with a serious injury,” according to the SIU.

The SIU is urging anyone who may have information about this incident to contact the case’s lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529 or upload any “video evidence” through the SIU’s website.

OPP charged the man they arrested with assaulting a peace officer, resisting a peace officer and mischief.

He was released from police custody and is scheduled to appear in court on those charges in L’Orignal on Feb. 26, provincial police said.

Hawkesbury and L’Orignal are about 90 kilometres east of the national capital.