Manitoulin OPP officers cleared in incident that left man with fractured leg

The headquarters for the Special Investigations Unit is seen here.

Sudbury -

Ontario's police watchdog has ruled there are no reasonable grounds to charge police in relation to a July 2021 incident on Manitoulin Island that left a suspect with a fractured leg.

The incident centred on a dispute the Mindemoya man had with a property owner over access to a shoreline. He had been arrested on earlier occasions for trespassing in the area.

"The complainant indicated that he had been charged with trespassing on several occasions by the Ontario Provincial Police, but these charges were withdrawn," the Special Investigations Unit said in a news release Friday.

On July 17, he was again in the shoreline area and police were called. Two OPP officers arrived to arrest him.

"The officers approached the complainant, advised him he was under arrest, and attempted to handcuff him," the SIU said.

"The complainant objected to his arrest and refused to release his hands to be handcuffed. He continued to resist on the ground after he had been taken down by one of the officers."

The officers were able to subdue him, take control of his arms and secure him in handcuffs.

"During his arrest, the complainant was kicked in the left leg," the SIU said.

"The complainant reported he was unable to walk from the area and was dragged up a hill to a waiting OPP prisoner wagon."

He was taken to Health Sciences North in Sudbury, where he had reconstructive surgery on the injured leg on July 28.

In his decision, SIU director Joseph Martino said the issue to be decided was whether the suspect was kicked or kneed while he was prone, which could amount to excessive force.

"If believed, this might give rise to criminal liability on the part of one or the other subject official," Martino said.

"However, I am unable to conclude that there is sufficiently cogent evidence to this effect to warrant charges."

And he said none of the witnesses at the scene confirmed that he had difficultly walking as he was taken into custody.

"Finally, in light of the fact that the complainant struggled against the officers’ efforts to handcuff him while on the ground for between two and five minutes, I am unable to reasonably conclude that a knee or a kick was necessarily excessive in the circumstances, even if it did cause the injury in question," Martino said.

"As for the officers’ rendition of the altercation that marked the complainant’s arrest, no mention is made of a strike of any kind once the complainant was on the ground. Rather, the officers reported simply using their greater manpower to wrestle control of the complainant’s arms before handcuffing them behind his back."

As a result, there are no reasonable grounds to lay charges and Martino said the file is closed.

Read the full release here.