SIU clears Windsor police officers following an arrest made last year

The province's police watchdog has determined there's no evidence to prove Windsor police officers used excessive force during an arrest last year, which left a man with broken ribs.

According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report, on May 7, 2019 Windsor police officers were looking for a 27-year-old man that they believed was carrying a firearm. The report says police had information the man had rammed police vehicles while fleeing from officers in the past.

Officers found the man asleep in an SUV, but he got away. Police later found him at a gas station in Tecumseh and a struggle ensued before police eventually arrested the man and charged him with dangerous driving and drug-related offences.

He was later sent to hospital where he was diagnosed with fractured ribs. 

The man's father issued a complaint about the arrest, and Windsor Police Service's Professional Standards officers interviewed the man at the South West Detention Centre.

He told those officers that he was assaulted during his arrest and in the "patrol wagon," according to the SIU report. 

According to the report, cameras mounted in the police-transport van showed the man being put into the back of the van and being transported, then being escorted to the police headquarters booking area. 

More camera footage showed the man was moaning and "appeared to be in discomfort." He told officers his left leg was hurt, his throat was sore, he was swallowing blood, and that he was injured during the arrest. 

In his report, SIU director Joseph Martino says he accepts evidence that the man was punched several times in the 'mid-body area' by the two arresting officers as he resisted arrest and they tried to restrain him. Martino says he also believes that another officer entered the fray  and punched the man twice in the head before the man was handcuffed.

But Martino says in the report "these strikes fell within the range of what was reasonably necessary to overcome the Complainant's strenuous resistance on the ground" especially since police were fearful the man had a gun.

Martino determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe that any officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man's arrest and injuries.