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NEWS RELEASE
SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT
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On Aug. 1, 2020, Ontario Provincial Police officers were dispatched to the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital after an employee reported that an inebriated man who had just left the emergency department had damaged property in the parking lot.
Officers located a 30-year-old person of interest and he was taken into police custody. He was subsequently diagnosed with fractures of the right orbit and nasal bone.
The director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe that any officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s arrest and injuries.
Full director’s report (with incident narrative, evidence, and analysis and director’s decision) can be found here.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians.
Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the director of the SIU must:
• consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
• depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
• publicly report the results of its investigations
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