The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has concluded Gananoque police officers are not criminally responsible for the injuries sustained by a man in their custody in early March.
On March 5, a 36-year-old man was arrested by Gananoque police for the theft of a vehicle.
The man was taken into custody, and according to the SIU, surveillance cameras in the station captured the events that led to the man’s injuries.
In the early morning hours of March 6, the man allegedly removed his own belt and then tightened it around his neck, the SIU said.
The man then reportedly began to shout, saying he wasn’t strong enough to do strangle himself. When an officer opened the cell to remove the belt, the SIU said the man in custody ran out of the cell.
A short chase ensued and the officer was able to catch the 36-year-old when he slammed against a metal table nearby. The officer then “forcibly leaned into” the man and then slammed him into the table while the he tried to gain control of the accused, according to the SIU, allegedly causing the two broken ribs.
During this time, the man’s pants fell off and he repeatedly screamed that he wanted to die, and pleaded with officers to kill him, the SIU says.
The man was handcuffed, but reportedly tried to flee again.
“At no time during this interaction did either police officer punch, kick or otherwise strike the complainant,” the SIU report said.
After he was restrained an put in his cell, the SIU said the man spent the rest of the night pacing his cell, speaking to himself and sometimes singing incoherently.
Director of the SIU Joseph Martino said the officer’s reason for the arrest, found in their notes, struck him as “thin gruel,” meaning his reasoning was perhaps unsatisfying.
“The subject officer’s notes suggest he believed he was entitled to take the complainant into custody based on his location in the vicinity of the stolen vehicle, which was still running at the time, and the fact that the vehicle had been stolen from a business that was en route from the Complainant’s residence,” Martino wrote.
Nevertheless, Martino did not decide the arrest was unlawful.
After reviewing video recordings of the incident, Martino also did not find any of the officers involved at fault.
“In the result, while it is regrettable that the Complainant’s ribs were fractured when he was forced downwards and struck a table in the process, I am satisfied on reasonable grounds that the takedown was a measured and proportionate response to the exigencies at hand,” Martino said.
The file into the incident is now closed and no charges will be laid.
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