A Barrie police officer has been cleared by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) following an incident this summer that sent a man to local hospital with a fractured jaw and some missing teeth.
The SIU found “no reasonable grounds” to believe the officer committed a criminal offence related to the serious injury of a 25-year-old man on July 22.
According to the SIU's full report, police were called to a shelter around 11 p.m. near Bayfield Street and Dunlop Street East in downtown Barrie, regarding a man who was “intoxicated” and “acting strangely.”
The caller reported the man had been asked to leave the shelter and, upon his exit, pulled his pants down and yelled at staff.
The officers located the man walking south on Maple Avenue a short distance from the shelter.
Based on footage from the officer’s body-worn camera, the man continually disregarded commands from police on the scene who were attempting to arrest him for committing an indecent act.
After being instructed to put his hands behind his back several times, the SIU says the officer unholstered his conducted energy weapon (CEW) and aimed it at the man.
The man continued to ignore the officer’s orders and began to "aggressively" move toward the officer.
As the man began to turn away from the officer with his hands clasped behind his back, he stepped toward a nearby pickup truck, which is when the officer deployed the Taser, causing the man to fall forward onto the pavement.
As a result of the fall to the ground, the man was then taken to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) where he was diagnosed with a fractured jaw and several missing teeth.
According to SIU director Joseph Martino’s report, the officer told colleagues the man had been observed “walking in the middle of the road with his pants half down” and that he had tried to talk to the man as he moved in front of him.
The officer also informed paramedics that the man had turned around quickly, adding he “took a back shot” and the man had fallen on his face on the asphalt and that his arms “did not come out," says the SIU report.
“Based on the information provided at dispatch of the (man) having exhibited his genitals to staff at a shelter while in public, I am satisfied that he was subject to arrest for ‘indecent act’ contrary to Section 173(1) of the Criminal Code,” Martino wrote in his Nov. 15 decision.
Martino stated he was also satisfied that the subject officer did not use unlawful force when he fired his CEW.
“The officer repeatedly attempted to have the (man) submit peacefully to arrest while walking with him south on Maple Avenue and then onto the parking lot,” he stated, adding the man “consistently ignored the officers directions” and grew “increasingly bellicose in voice and demeanour.”
“By the time the two were squared off in the parking lot by the pickup truck, the (man) began to make aggressive gestures at the officer, such as walking towards him even though he had been directed to stop," states the report. "At this time, it was apparent that a physical intervention of some sort would likely be necessary to take the (man) into custody.
"The (subject officer) could have taken hold of him, with or without the (witness officer’s) help, but that would have risked a fight of some sort that could also have resulted in injuries to the (man) and the officers,” Martino added in the report. “On this record, it seems the use of the CEW was a reasonable tactic.
"Had it worked as intended, the (man) would have been temporarily incapacitated, allowing for his safe apprehension, without the infliction of serious injury<" stated the report. "Regrettably, the use of the weapon always carries with it a risk of injury, which materialized in this case. That risk, in my view, was not a prohibitive one in the circumstances.”
The SIU is civilian law enforcement agency that investigates incidents involving an official where there has been death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm at a person or an allegation of sexual assault.
