Lindsay Police Officer ‘Legally Justified’ To Use Taser In Arrest, Finds SIU – Peterborough | Globalnews.ca

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit says a Kawartha Lakes City Police Service officer committed no criminal offense after discharging a conducted energy weapon, or Taser, to assist in an arrest in March 2022.

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In its report Posted Tuesday, SIU Director Joseph Martino said that around 7:30 p.m. on March 7, two municipal police officers responded to 911 calls from a woman about a domestic incident involving her and her husband in Lindsay, Ont.

Dispatch reported hearing a man yell and insult a woman and that the phone line had been disconnected, according to Martino’s report. After contact was restored, dispatch also reported sounds of glass breaking.

Martino said the husband let officers into the house and they went to the second floor to speak with the wife. However, Martino says the man was upset that the officers did not remove their boots before going up to the second floor.

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“He tried to go upstairs, presumably to confront the officer about the situation, but was stopped by the other officer,” Martino reported. “The man pushed the officer out of his way and was told that he was under arrest for assault.”

Martino says the man refused to comply with a demand to turn around. That resulted in an officer firing the DEC at him, Martino said.

Martino said the man fell and broke his left collarbone after hitting the ground.

After the investigation, Martino said that given the nature of the 911 call and the discovery of damaged property (a broken vase) and an intoxicated whistleblower, he said the officer in question had reason to be concerned about renewed hostilities and he was “in his right” to temporarily block the place. man’s path.

“Then, when the complainant reacted by pushing the officer, the officer in question had reason to arrest him for assault,” Martino concluded.

He said the use of the DEC was “legally justified.”

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“Given the physical exchange that had just occurred, the complainant’s belligerence and intoxication, and his refusal to turn around as directed, the officer could reasonably expect the complainant to physically object to his arrest,” Martino said.

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“On this record, I am satisfied that the officer in question had the right to resort to his DEC. If successful, deployment of the weapon would temporarily immobilize the complainant from a distance, neutralizing the risk of a violent physical altercation. In fact, that’s what happened.”

Martino said that while it was “regrettable” that the man sustained an injury, there was no reasonable cause “to believe that the officer engaged in unlawful conduct by resorting to the weapon.”

“Consequently, there was no basis to proceed with criminal charges in this case. The file has been closed”, he concluded.

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