SOUTH STORMONT, Ontario – On Sept. 23, 2019, the SD&G detachment of the OPP disclosed that some of their officers were under investigation by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) after a 65-year-old South Stormont man received non-life threatening injuries following his arrest earlier that day.
The SD&G OPP had originally attended a residence, a farm house, on Dafoe Rd. in Ingleside earlier that morning to deal with a mischief complaint.
“Upset at the township over a municipal grievance, the Complainant had intentionally dug up the roadway in front of his home. Greeted with profanity, the sound of a shotgun being racked and a threat by the Complainant that he would not be taken alive, the officers had left the property in the interests of everyone’s safety,” reads the SIU report.
According to the report released by the SIU, SD&G OPP officers returned to execute an arrest warrant on the 65-year-old man at 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon that day.
The complainant allegedly came out of his house carrying a shotgun and threatened the officers. The officers then retreated and called for backup.
After the area was contained, the Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU) arrested the man after a lengthy standoff. The man sustained fractured ribs during the course of his arrest.
When the man exited his home after the TRU arrived on the scene, he did so again, with a loaded shotgun and approached the officers. The man failed to heed the warnings of the officers to drop the gun and was struck by rubber bullets.
The SIU report goes on to explain that in the course of the arrest, police dogs were deployed and bit the suspect on the arms and legs, he was hit three times with Conducted Energy Weapons (CEW)s, one of the officers punched the complainant seven times while he was on the ground.
The officers who handcuffed the complainant and delivered punches, known in the report only as Subject Officer (SO) #1 and #2 were found to not have acted in any criminal manner during the course of the arrest.
“On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that either officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the Complainant’s arrest and injuries,” reads a statement from Director of the SIU, Joseph Martino. “There are no qualms to be had with respect to the police operation preceding the immediate circumstances of the Complainant’s arrest. Knowing that the Complainant was armed with a firearm and had threatened officers earlier in the day when they arrived at his home to arrest him, the deployment of the TRU team was reasonable.”
Martino goes on to state that the use of rubber bullets, the police dog, and the CEW were reasonable as the complainant emerged from his residence with a loaded shotgun. He also condones the use of punches once the complainant is on the ground, given his previous statements and behaviour.
“I am further satisfied that the punches struck by SO #1 and the additional CEW discharges fell within the ambit of lawful force in the circumstances,” Martino’s statement reads. “Though he was by this time on the ground and surrounded by multiple officers, the Complainant continued to struggle against the officers’ efforts to secure his arms. In fact, he held one of his hands closed – his left hand – and his arms tucked by his chest for periods of time, leading the officers to fear that he might still be in possession of, or attempting to access, a weapon on his person. The fear was not without merit. By his conduct throughout the day, the Complainant had made it clear that he had no intention of being arrested peaceably and that he was ready, willing and able to brings weapons to bear against the police.”
