Police officers cleared in arrest that left man with broken ribs

[Michael Jack]

Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared officers of wrongdoing after a 32-year-old man suffered fractured ribs during his arrest in Tillsonburg earlier this year following the theft of an industrial “blue bin” from a business.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said Ontario Provincial Police officers were investigating a theft in the area of Bridge and Bidwell streets on June 5.

A man, who had been sitting at a Bridge Street auto shop in a wheelchair stolen from a hospital, gave police a false name and ran toward Venison Street with officers in pursuit, the SIU said.

The man slipped and fell during the chase, the SIU said.

One officer grabbed hold of him as another arrived, and both officers struck the man before bringing his arms behind his back and handcuffing him, the SIU said.

“Each of the officers struck (the man) before his arms were controlled behind the back and handcuffed,” SIU officials said in a statement.

The man complained of chest pain and was taken to Alexandra Hospital, where he was diagnosed with two fractured ribs, the SIU said.

SIU director Joseph Martino said the evidence, including video from a nearby auto shop, didn’t establish reasonable grounds to believe any officer committed a criminal offence.

Martino noted the injuries could have resulted from the man’s fall while fleeing or from a punch or knee strike by an officer, but there was no proof of unlawful conduct.

“While I accept that (the man’s) ribs were fractured in his run-in with police, whether the result of his one or more falls while fleeing apprehension or the punch or knee delivered by the (police officer), there are no reasonable grounds to believe the injuries are attributable to unlawful conduct on the part of the officers,” Martino said in the report.

As a result, no criminal charges will be laid, and the SIU investigation is closed.

The SIU investigates all cases of serious injury, death, gunfire and allegations of sexual assault involving police officers across Ontario.