Hamilton Police officer cleared of wrongdoing in arrest that resulted in man’s broken hip

By

Published April 30, 2020 at 4:43 pm

Hamilton Police officer cleared of wrongdoing in arrest that resulted in man’s broken hip

A Hamilton Police officer has been cleared by Ontario’s police wathcdog of wrongdoing in relation to an arrest in September 2019 where the suspect suffered a broken hip.

A Hamilton Police officer has been cleared by Ontario’s police wathcdog of wrongdoing in relation to an arrest in September 2019 where the suspect suffered a broken hip.

The incident in question took place on the afternoon of September 8, 2019, when police were called to the Wendy’s on Centennial near Barton Street to apprehend a 29-year-old man who had a warrant out for his arrest.

The man tried to evade arrest and in efforts to detain the suspect, one of the responding officers tackled the suspect, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report on the incident says.

When the officers arrived at the police station with a handcuffed suspect, it was discovered that the suspect was in need of medical attention so he was then transported to the General Hospital.

There, it was determined that he had suffered a fractured hip.

SIU was then called in to investigate the incident.

The subsequent report found that the officer acted within the interest of public safety by preventing the fleeing suspect from running into oncoming traffic.

“I am unable to reasonably conclude that the force used by the officer was unreasonable given the need to apprehend a fleeing [suspect], and to do so quickly before he ran into live lanes of traffic,” write SIU director Joseph Martino in his decision, issued April 20.

“There is no basis to proceed with criminal charges in this matter and the file is closed.”

The investigation into the incident looked at CCTV footage from businesses in the area and considered hospital records and evidence provided by the arresting officers and suspect’s own father who was on the scene, the SIU report says.

insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising