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Ontario’s police watchdog has dropped its probe into Ontario Provincial Police officers in Elgin County after a woman had her shoulder broken while being pulled out of a taxi in Port Stanley.
According to a just-published report from the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which investigates serious injuries and deaths stemming from police interactions, Elgin County OPP officers were acting within the bounds of the law when arresting the woman, who was reported as impaired.
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On May 5 shortly before 5 a.m., Elgin OPP received a call from a taxi driver at 369 Edith Cavell Blvd. in the beach town. The cabbie was reporting that his fare to London was an intoxicated woman, “causing issues and being physical,” the report reads.
An OPP officer arrived and the woman refused to leave the taxi, prompting the officer to remove her from the taxi, causing an upper arm injury, the report states. She was taken to the St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital, and diagnosed with an upper arm fracture.
Joseph Martino, director of the SIU, concluded that officers were justified in both arresting the woman for being intoxicated in a public place and refusing to leave the taxi.
“By the time the officer laid hands on her, the complainant was effectively a trespasser in a vehicle that was otherwise available to the public for hire,” he wrote. “With respect to the force brought to bear . . . the complainant had been given a fair opportunity to remove herself from the taxi and it was clear she was not about to do so peacefully.”
Martino further points to evidence suggesting her arm was broken as she struggled against officers putting her arm behind her back, calling it an unfortunate injury as opposed to excessive force.
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