The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has determined there are no grounds to believe an altercation between an Ontario Provincial Police officer and a suspect at an ONroute on Highway 400 was racially motivated or resulted in injury of the accused.
On the evening of June 2, a 30-year-old man was arrested and charged with impaired driving in the parking lot of the ONroute Service Centre along Highway 400, north in King City.
According to the SIU's report, the subject officer attended the King City ONroute due to reports of a possible impaired driver. When the officer arrived the scene, he found the complainant asleep at the wheel of his parked vehicle with alcohol on his breath. A cup containing liquid that smelled of alcohol was seized from the vehicle.
After waking the complainant, the officer and the complainant exchanged words before the officer reached into the vehicle to take the keys and informed the complainant he was under arrest.
The complainant alleged that the arrest was racially motivated, as the arresting officer was white and the complainant was Black.
“At the subject officer’s direction, says the subject officer, the complainant stepped out of the truck but refused to co-operate by placing his arms behind his back," SIU director Joseph Martino wrote in his incident narrative. "Instead, the complainant pushed the subject officer as the subject officer held his left arm, and then placed his right hand inside a back pocket.
"The subject officer proceeded to ground the complainant face down on the ground whereupon the complainant eventually complied by withdrawing his right hand from his pocket and was handcuffed,” Martino added.
“At no time were strikes of any description delivered.”
The complainant was transported to Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital where medical imaging failed to turn up any fractures.
A breath test administered by police at the hospital about four hours after the complainant’s apprehension found alcohol in his blood at a concentration about 10 per cent shy of the legal limit.
The complainant subsequently attended at the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie, where further medical imaging diagnosed a slightly herniated disk.
“On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the subject officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant’s arrest and injury,” wrote Martino. “I am unable to reasonably conclude that the subject officer used excessive force or that his behaviour was motivated by racial animus towards the complainant.”
The full decision is available on the SIU website here.
