Police have been cleared of wrongdoing in a case involving a 25-year-old man who fell and broke his nose and suffered a concussion after his arrest in Thunder Bay earlier this year. The incident began June 6 just after 4 p.m. when the man’s father called police to say his son had been drinking and was making suicidal comments. Thunder Bay police arrived a short time later and located the man a few blocks from his father’s place. “There was an interaction between the complainant and the officers during which the complainant was struck in the face and fell forward, hitting the ground,” the Special Investigations Unit said in its report on the case. Police brought him to hospital “The complainant was subsequently handcuffed and taken into custody.” Officers brought him to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre because EMS wasn’t available. Once in hospital, he was diagnosed with a broken nose and concussion. Police learned what happened when the man’s father arrived at police headquarters to tell them on June 8. The SIU was then contacted. The SIU investigation uncovered that police located the man around 4:21 p.m. that day, but at first he denied he was the person they were looking for. After a back-and-forth discussion, police began to suspect he was the person they were looking for. Matters escalated to the point that he began resisting arrest and was punched in the fact by one of the police officers. “The complainant continued swearing and demanded to know what he had done,” the SIU said. In a face-down position “The (police officer) moved the complainant to a face-down position on the parking lot and placed him in handcuffs behind the back.” At that point, the man began yelling, “Help me! Help me!” and was squirming on the ground. As officers lifted him up to put him in a squad car, the man continued to struggle. “He planted his left foot and pushed back against the officers, who in turn pushed forward,” the SIU said. “The complainant’s left foot slid out from under him in the loose gravel, causing a sliding noise, after which he fell face-first onto the parking lot and turned onto his right side.” After waiting about 10 minutes for an ambulance, police drove him to the hospital. In his analysis, SIU director Joseph Martino said that there is no evidence that the man was injured as a result of “unwarranted force.” Was resisting arrest “The complainant was pushing back against the officers at the time, impeding what they were lawfully entitled to do, namely, place him in a cruiser for transport back to the station,” Martino added. “The force adopted by the officers was of like kind to that which they were attempting to overcome and cannot be said to have been excessive or disproportionate in the circumstances.” What was deserving of more scrutiny was the punch to the face the officer delivered while the man was already on the ground. “Here, too, however, there is eyewitness and video evidence that the complainant was resisting the (officer’s) efforts to contain him by flailing his arms and even grabbing at the officer’s arms,” Martino said. “On this record, while the punch might not have been strictly necessary to control the complainant, I am unable to reasonably conclude that it fell afoul of the latitude of justifiable force recognized by the criminal law.” Read the full report and analysis here.
