The Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has found no reasonable grounds to charge a Chatham-Kent police officer after a drunk man was injured during an arrest in Wallaceburg earlier this year.
SIU Director Joseph Martino doesn't believe the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the arrest and injury of the 22-year-old man on April 1, 2022.
The man was found extremely intoxicated and passed out on the front porch when officers arrived at a home near William and Wellington Streets in Wallaceburg that night after a resident called police to report a break and enter. The intoxication violated a court order that he reside with his grandfather.
During the arrest, the man resisted getting into the police cruiser. He was eventually forced inside, but refused to bring his legs into the vehicle. That's when one of the officers kneed the man several times to get him to comply while another officer used a taser three times. The man was also punched.
The following day, he complained of pain and was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a ruptured bladder and a lacerated liver.
Martino added that he was satisfied that the officer conducted himself lawfully during his encounter with the man and the file has been closed.
"It remains unclear when precisely the man’s injuries were inflicted. While there is evidence to suggest they were caused prior to the officers’ interventions, there is also evidence that the injuries were the result of the force of perhaps an errant knee strike by one of the officers," said Martino.