Man seriously injured during arrest, SIU clears officer of wrongdoing

The SIU is called on to investigate any time someone is killed or injured in an incident involving police in Ontario. (CTV Northern Ontario file)

The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared a Sarnia, Ont. police officer of any wrongdoing after a man was seriously injured during an arrest in July of this year, and suffered fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.

According to a press release from the SIU, on July 23, 2022, officers with the Sarnia Police Service were dispatched to the Insignia Hotel, located at 283 Christina Street North for a report of a trespasser.

The SIU said that the 46-year-old man was asked to leave the hotel, but refused and threatened the officers. Officers then grabbed the man, forced him from a chair, and a struggle subsequently ensued on the floor.

At one point, the man attempted to reach for one of the officer’s firearms.

Additional officers were then called to the scene, and the man continued to struggle with police, after which officers punched and kicked the man, and he was handcuffed and placed inside a police cruiser.

While in the sally port of the station, the man refused to exit the cruiser, and then kicked at officers, and one officer kicked back.

The SIU said after complaining of chest pain a shortness of breath, the man was transported to hospital via ambulance, and was found to have suffered from fractured ribs, a broken nose and a collapsed lung.

As a result of the SIU investigation, “Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe a Sarnia Police Service officer committed a criminal offence” during the altercation, the release reads.

Martino does concede that the man was injured during the altercation with police, which was “likely the result of one or more of the strikes,” but that there are no grounds to believe the man’s injuries were caused by “unlawful conduct” on the part of the involved officers.

Therefore, the SIU will not be proceeding with criminal charges.

The SIU is an independent authority responsible for investigating the conduct of officials, such as police, that resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault, or the discharge of a weapon at another person.