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Barrie police cleared by SIU after man suffers concussion, broken nose while in custody

Special Investigations Unit says there was a struggle when officers tried to take the man's sweater and he refused
2020-04-14 Barrie-Simcoe Emergency Services Campus RB 6
City police headquarters at the Barrie-Simcoe Emergency Services Campus on Fairview Drive. Raymond Bowe/BarrieToday

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says no charges will be laid against Barrie police after a man suffered a concussion and a broken nose while in custody last summer. 

SIU director Joseph Martino announced Thursday that he found no reasonable grounds to believe that a Barrie police officer committed a crime in connection to the 26-year-old man's injuries while lodged in a cell last July.

On July 5, 2021, the SIU says officers arrested the man without incident at his Barrie home on an outstanding warrant and he was subsequently lodged in a cell.

"Concerned about the man harming himself with his sweater, officers went to his cell and asked the man to give them his sweater," the SIU says in its report. "He refused and a struggle ensued. The subject official took hold of the man’s head and pushed him back, his head striking the wall, before he laid the man flat on the bench as another officer pulled the sweater free."

The following day, the man was released from custody. He went to hospital and was diagnosed with a concussion and a broken nose. The man notified the SIU of his injuries on Sept. 22, 2021.

Martino concluded the subject officer used justifiable force in the situation. The case is now closed.

To read the full SIU report, click here.