The province’s police oversight agency has cleared a Middlesex County OPP officer after a woman sustained an injury during an arrest involving a stolen vehicle that crashed in Thorndale in April.
According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in Middlesex County responded to a report of a crash near the area of Thorndale Road and Olalondo Road on April 18, 2022, at around 8:42 a.m.
The SIU said 911 calls were made to police after a stolen Buick RXL had crashed into the ditch. Several witnesses came to assist the driver, identified as a man and a passenger identified as a woman, who was reportedly in the trunk of the sedan sleeping when it crashed.
Police were told the man attempted to stop and enter passing vehicles to try and take off from the scene, asking for a ride to the hospital for him and the woman. Police say the man also told witnesses not to call police because he had a warrant for his arrest.
The OPP was eventually contacted and upon hearing sirens, the man and woman reportedly began to run away into a wooded area nearby. Officers attended the area with a police dog and the pair were found and arrested. The SIU said police located drugs and drug paraphernalia close to where the man and woman were handcuffed.
After police returned to the site of the crash with the suspects, the man reportedly complained about soreness to an arm infection he had and the woman said she was in pain due to a pre-existing broken leg. The pair was then taken to hospital where it was determined that the man had no serious injuries.
The woman was examined and the physician determined there were no concerns with her pre-existing leg injury. However, she was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra in her lower back and was admitted to hospital. The SIU said the doctor could not disclose the age of the injury and would not provide the police with custody of the woman pending a bail hearing.
“During the arrest, the officer may have temporarily placed a knee on the woman’s back while in the process of handcuffing her,” a release from the SIU read. “The woman’s injury may have in fact been suffered in the collision, as she had been in the trunk of the Buick as it travelled on Thorndale Road and then crashed in the ditch.”
Investigators were not sure of the relationship between the man and the woman, but believed the woman was a human trafficking victim.
In his analysis of the incident, SIU Director Joseph Martino determined the officer did not break the law in relation to the woman’s arrest and back injury.
“The evidence indicates that little if any force was used by the officers,” Martino wrote. “At most, the officer may have temporarily placed a knee on the [woman’s] back while in the process of handcuffing her hands on the ground. There is no indication of the officer having done so gratuitously or in a heavy-handed fashion.”
A full analysis of the incident can be found on the SIU’s website.
The case is now closed.
