SIOUX LOOKOUT – The province’s Special Investigation’s Unit is not recommending charges be laid against an OPP officer after an incident earlier this year in Sioux Lookout.
According to an SIU report, released on Friday, two officers were on patrol near Centennial Park when they observed two males fighting.
Police approached to investigate and, after providing a false name, one of the two involved in the fight fled as officers attempted to handcuff the individual.
The man took off running, but either tripped to the ground or was grounded by the officer. He was then taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken right elbow.
The SIU repor says there are no reasonable grounds to believe police committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant’s arrest and injury.
Evidence indicated the officer in question chased the man down, tackled him to the ground, and stomped on his left hand as the complainant was trying to get up, fracturing his elbow in the process.
“A tackle and stomp would appear commensurate with the exigencies of the moment. In the case of the former, the force seemed a reasonable tactic, short of a resort to less-lethal weaponry, to thwart the Complainant’s escape. A stomp was reasonable as well given the Complainant was attempting to use his left hand to rise to his feet,” the report reads.
“As for the break to the elbow, I am unable to reasonably conclude it was the result of excessive force. More likely, in my view, given the evidence of the Complainant’s resistance to arrest, the injury was the unfortunate result of countervailing forces being brought to bear in a dynamic situation.”
The incident took place on May 15, 2024.
