The Special Investigations Unit found local police were not at fault when a man fell from the roof of a Collingwood home while police were there responding to a call about a domestic dispute.
Investigators were charged with looking into the circumstances surrounding the 38-year-old man's injury on Oct. 15, 2023, because police were present at the time he was injured.
According to OPP, officers were called to the home in the Niagara and Ontario Street area at about 7:30 p.m. for a report of a domestic dispute. They found the man and his partner at the home and police spoke to the partner at the front door.
The details of the call contained in the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report indicate the partner called the police saying the man was drunk and smashing items inside the apartment.
When police arrived, they found both the man and his partner on the front lawn of the house. The man went inside, and police spoke with the partner.
A police officer went into the home and called out to the man, unaware the man was already out a second-floor window.
The man climbed onto the slopped roof of a porch and dropped two or three metres to the ground. Camera footage from the police cruiser shows the man trying to crawl away. Police officers approached him, and he told them he hurt his left foot. He was taken to the Collingwood hospital by ambulance, and was not charged by police.
When police checked on the man the next day, he was leaving the hospital in a cast with a fractured left ankle.
"There are no reasonable grounds to believe that the subject officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the complainant's injury," states the Special Investigations Unit report.
The SIU also cleared the officer of any criminal negligence, and stated the officer was lawfully present and engaged in the execution of his duties.
"It is plain to see that the subject officer comported himself, at all times, with due care and regard for the complainant's health and safety," states the report.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the director of the SIU must
- consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
- depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
- publicly report the results of its investigations
