The province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has determined a Barrie police officer will not face criminal charges after a man in his 60s suffered a broken arm while being arrested at the downtown library branch this past summer.
Early on the morning of Aug. 18, 2019, a 61-year-old man was arrested in front of the Barrie Public Library. He had his left arm fractured after being shoved and taken down to the concrete ground after the SIU says he became combative with the responding officer.
The SIU interviewed four civilian witnesses and two witness officers. The agency designated one officer as part of its investigation, who was interviewed and turned over their notes for review.
Shortly after 4 a.m., Barrie police received a call for two men fighting at at the Worsley Street building.
A local resident called police and requested officers come to the downtown library "to shut some drunk people up," according to the SIU report. "She reported that one of the men present was bashing his head off the library window. There was a group of homeless people sleeping at the library, but two men were carrying on."
The woman also reported hearing one of the men say he would stab another, the report adds.
"She told the calltaker she had not seen a knife and that the men concerned were sitting beside some garbage cans," the report says.
She described the man who was banging his head on the window and how he had been arguing with a younger man who had left the area.
The radio dispatcher asked for units to attend the library for a disturbance and provided a description of the "aggressor."
The subject officer and one of the witness officers responded in separate police vehicles.
When the subject officer arrived on scene, he found around a dozen homeless people sleeping under the overhang on the building's south side near the entrance. Two people were drinking beer and speaking loudly, while the others "were all sleeping or resting quietly."
The officer asked one of the men to leave the area and he agreed to do so.
The other man was not co-opertative with police when asked to move along. He swore at the officer, objected to his presence and challenged the officer to fight, according to the SIU.
The officer warned the man repeatedly to leave, otherwise he would be placed under arrest for public intoxication.
The SIU says the man "ripped his T-shirt to reveal his right bicep muscle" and again challenged the officer, who then shoved the man into one of the pillars.
"There followed a brief struggle between the two as the (officer) took the complainant face-first to the ground, whereupon the officer was able to secure the complainant’s arms in handcuffs behind him," the SIU report says. "The takedown resulted in the complainant’s fractured left arm."
A second officer arrived on scene to find the man already on the ground in handcuffs. They lifted the man to his feet and placed him in a cruiser. The man repeatedly claimed that his arm was broken and in need of medical attention.
Once they arrived at the station, an ambulance was called and the man was taken to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) where he was diagnosed with a broken left arm.
The injury was reported to the SIU later that morning at 6:40 a.m.
The injured man was interviewed by the SIU and his medical records reviewed.
SIU interim director Joseph Martio has determined there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against a Barrie police officer in relation to the incident.
"On my assessment of the evidence collected by the SIU, which included statements from the complainant, the (subject officer) and several eyewitnesses to the events in question, I am satisfied there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the (subject officer) committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant’s arrest and injury."
Martino also noted, however, that there are different accounts of what happened, including that the man was taken down by two officers "without any provocation on his part."
"The suggestion that the complainant was passive is belied by the accounts of independent eyewitnesses, whose evidence indicates that the complainant behaved in a threatening matter toward a single officer ahead of the takedown and then struggled with the officer following the initial shove into the pillar," Martino says in his findings. "For these and other reasons, it would be unwise and unsafe to place much if any credence on the more incriminating evidence."
However, Martino also said he was unable to conclude whether the amount of force used exceeded the limits of the law. He also points out the man was the aggressive, belligerent and "became overly threatening" to the officer.
"The officer was within his rights in using a measure of moderate force to push the complainant away from him," said Martino, adding the takedown was a "reasonable tactic" to deal with the situation.
The SIU director characterized the man's injury as "an unforunate accident," although regrettable.
The SIU investigates the police in cases where there has been a death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
This is the third SIU ruling for the Barrie area this week. Yesterday, the agency also released its findings following a man's injuries suffered during an arrest at a Minesing home in March by the OPP, and the other involving Barrie city police after a woman sustained a hand injury after a truck smashed into a building on Mary Street in May.
The SIU also determined no criminal charges were warranted in those cases.
