Ontario’s police watchdog says there are no reasonable grounds to believe police committed a criminal offence in connection with the death of a man at a hotel in Port Hope in May 2021.
According to Special Investigations Unit director Joseph Martino’s report issued Wednesday, on May 24 Northumberland OPP responded to a reported domestic assault at the Comfort Inn in Port Hope. Officers interacted with the complainant — a 35-year-old man — at a room. The SIU says the man was known to police.
A woman was removed from the hotel and taken to hospital for her injuries.
The SIU says later OPP and Port Hope Police Service officers returned to the hotel to arrest the man for the alleged assault and confinement of his estranged girlfriend. However, officers left after no one answered their knocking on a hotel room door.
On May 25 around 9 a.m., officers attended the hotel room but there was no answer, the SIU says. They also visited the man’s workplace but he was not there. Around 9:45 a.m., officers entered the hotel room and found he had died by suicide.
Martino says the SIU assigned six investigators and interviewed three civilian witnesses and two police officers.
As a result of the investigation, Martino concluded the police involved were not responsible for the man’s death.
“On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that either subject official committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant’s death,” Martino said.
However, Martino notes police “ought to have taken action” when the woman told investigators the complainant had repeatedly threatened to kill himself.
“Arguably, the officer ought to have taken action based on this information to seek a Feeney warrant or press the case for entry based on exigent circumstances. Be that as it may, I am unable to reasonably characterize subject officer number 1’s failure to do so as a marked departure from a reasonable level of care, much less a marked and substantial departure,” Martino said.
“(The woman) had made clear in her interview that she believed the complainant’s threats were ’empty threats’ meant to manipulate her, rather than genuine expressions of an intention to self-harm. It seems SO #1 adopted (her) perspective on the matter.
“While it may be that the subject officials might have done more to take the complainant into custody prior to locating him deceased in his Comfort Inn room, I am not satisfied that any such shortcomings were of a magnitude sufficient to attract criminal sanction. Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case, and the file is closed.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
For a directory of support services in your area, visit the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention.
Learn more about how to help someone in crisis on the government of Canada website.
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