The Special Investigations Unit has cleared a Hamilton cop who broke a suspect’s nose in the course of arresting him for parole violations. Two offers in a cruiser were watching a known drug house in the Centre Mall area, when two people came out of the house and took off in a car. The officers recognized the passenger in the car as a someone wanted by police, They caught up with the car and pulled it over, whereupon the complainant fled. The officer caught up with the individual and tried to arrest him. When the complainant resisted, he was tackled to the ground, and when he tried to resist being cuffed. The officer delivered a couple of punches to the head. The prisoner was taken to central Police Station and later transferred to hospital where he was treated for a broken nose.
Concluded the SIU investigator, “Within the confines of that story, in my view, two punches delivered in quick succession fell within the range of what was reasonable at the time given that the Complainant had to that point successfully resisted the officers’ efforts to wrestle control of his arms.
“In the result, while I accept that the Complainant’s nose was broken in the altercation that marked his arrest, whether the result of the takedown or the punches struck by the SO, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the injury is attributable to unlawful conduct on the part of the subject official. As such, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case.”
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