THUNDER BAY - A city police officer has been found not guilty of assault.
Michael Dimini, a Thunder Bay Police Service staff sergeant, was charged in 2023 by the OPP with two counts of assault, one count of breach of trust and one count of obstruction of justice.
In late February one of the assault charges was dismissed after a four-day trial.
On Monday, a trial began at the Thunder Bay Courthouse for the second assault charge, which stems from an incident on Oct. 25, 2016 outside of St. Joseph’s Heritage on Carrie Street. It's alleged Dimini used excessive force when arresting the complainant, an intoxicated man.
On Friday, Justice Mara Greene said having reviewed all evidence she came to a finding of not guilty.
She will release her reasons for her decision at a later date.
During closing submissions heard on Thursday, the defence had argued Dimini's goal was to get the man to a safe place and not make the situation worse since he had previous confrontations with the police and that many of the witnesses had inconsistent recollections of the incident.
The Crown argued that while the witnesses were reporting from their own vantage points and developing their own interpretations that could cloud memories, all the witnesses had the same observations and that at the time the force was used, the man wasn't a threat due to his level of intoxication.
A three-week trial for the breach of trust and obstruction charges is scheduled to begin near the end of this month. Those allegations have not been proven in court.
