SIU clears police in ‘serious’ injury of woman

The province’s police oversight agency has determined that a provincial police officer did not commit a criminal act after a woman was injured during an arrest on the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation.

According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the incident happened in the late winter after Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers in Middlesex County were advised to be on the lookout for a woman wanted on several warrants.

On March 18 at around 8:51 p.m., an OPP officer on patrol came across a vehicle parked in a driveway with three occupants inside, a man and two women, including a woman who matched the description of a 42-year-old female wanted by police.

The SIU said the officer notified police dispatch that he planned to conduct a vehicle stop before parking his cruiser at the bottom of the driveway. When the officer stepped out, the driver of the vehicle reportedly tried to drive away, turning onto the front lawn of the residence as the officer’s cruiser was blocking the driveway. The vehicle became stuck in the mud, and the female driver is then said to have exited the driver’s seat, climbing into the back seat with another female passenger, believed to be the suspect.

The officer then approached the vehicle and demanded the female suspect exit it. He also reportedly threatened to break a window to force her out when she refused to comply with the order. The woman then got out of the vehicle in an attempt to run towards a neighbouring home. She reportedly fell while running away from the officer who began to chase after her.

Eventually, the officer and the woman ended up on the ground as the officer attempted to restrain her. Another officer arrived a short time later, and the woman was handcuffed. During the incident, she complained that the officer had broken her arm. The woman was taken to hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured left arm.

On Thursday, SIU Director Joseph Martino said there is no evidence that the officer committed a crime in connection to the woman’s injury. He noted that the officer was in his rights to take the woman into custody as she was wanted on several warrants.

“There is an allegation that the [woman’s] arm was broken when the subject officer (SO) caught up with her, grabbed her left arm, and pulled it in an effort to bring her to the ground,” Martino wrote in his decision. “The source of evidence concedes that she struggled with the SO at this time before she was taken down. The injury in this account appears to have been the unfortunate result of a clash of opposing forces rather than heavy-handedness on the part of the officer.”

As a result, Martino has cleared the officer and the file has been closed.

Read original story from London Ontario – BlackburnNews.com