The Ontario Special Investigations Unit has cleared Windsor police officers after a suspect complained that he was punched in the face nine times.
Back on November 26, 2017, officers were called to a home in Windsor after a 911 call about a man allegedly threatening to stab his stepdaughter. The call came from the stepdaughter who said the man had come home drunk and was arguing with her mother.
During the course of the call, the dispatcher could hear screaming in the background. The stepdaughter said he "had come home drunk again" and the suspect was "hurting" her mom. The screaming then intensified, and the stepdaughter is heard saying "he's about to stab me!"
She told the dispatcher the suspect had a steak knife.
In a second call, the man's stepson described how the suspect had entered his bedroom and starting smashing his things. When he tried to stop him, the suspect threatened to stab his sister.
Police found out the man was ordered by the court not to drink alcohol.
When officers arrived, they found the suspect locked inside a bathroom where he threatened to inject himself with his wife's insulin. He denied drinking alcohol and demanded the officers leave or he would stab them in the neck.
Eventually, the officers got the door open, and the man is alleged to have taken a swing at one of the officers.
The suspect later told investigators that the officers punched him nine times. They did use a taser to subdue him.
The suspect was taken to the hospital for medical treatment where doctors deemed a nasal bone fracture as "questionable". They could not conclusively say whether it was an old injury or not.
In his decision, SIU Director Tony Loparco defended the officers' actions noting, "There appears no dispute that the police spent a considerable amount of time trying to coax, negotiate, and plead with the Complainant to exit the bathroom."
Loparco also stated of the complainant, "I find that I am unable to accept his version of the events," and "there is no dispute that the complainant was punched in the face... I am also unable to accept that he was punched nine times." Finally, his report said, "I am, therefore, satisfied on reasonable grounds on this record that the actions exercised by the officers fell within the limits prescribed by the criminal law and there are no grounds for proceeding with charges in this case."