The province’s police watchdog has invoked its mandate after a man suffered an unspecified injury early Monday when he was taken into custody under the Mental Health Act, police officials said.
Details are limited, but officers responded to an apartment building near Oxford and Talbot streets around 1:30 a.m. for a report of a man acting erratically in a hallway, police said in a release.
The man was resistive and uncooperative to officers, who detained him under the Mental Health Act “in order to ensure the safety of the male and the public,” police said.
Paramedics had been called to the scene to assess the man, but they had not arrived yet prior to the man becoming resistive, police said.
“During the course of detaining the male, it was later found that he had sustained an injury,” police said in a statement. The man was transported to Victoria Hospital.
The Special Investigations Unit, an arms-length agency that investigates reports of death, injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm involving police in Ontario, has since invoked its mandate, police said.
The SIU did not have any additional information to share when reached for comment.
“All we know at this point is that the man was apprehended under the Mental Health Act and was transported to Victoria Hospital for treatment,” spokesperson Loida Pedro said.
This is the eighth case this year that the SIU has investigated involving the London Police Service. Four remain under investigation, while two concluded with no charges laid.
One case from January involving a sexual assault allegation was terminated after it was “determined to fall outside of SIU jurisdiction and/or there was patently nothing to investigate,” the agency said.