THUNDER BAY – A Thunder Bay police officer has been cleared by the province’s civilian police watchdog, which launched an investigation after a 52-year-old man claimed his arm had been broken while in custody.
The Special Investigations Unit on Thursday released its report into the February 2016 incident, where Thunder Bay Police Service officers arrested an intoxicated man who had been laying on the ground in the parking lot of a Red River Road gas station. The civilian police watchdog invoked its mandate after a formal complaint was filed to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.
In his report, SIU director Tony Loparco said there were no grounds to lay charges against the unnamed officer.
“I find that the force used was minimal and no more than required to place the handcuffs on the complainant, who was clearly intoxicated and less than cooperative, and to get him safely into the police cruiser,” Loparco wrote.
“I also find that it is more than likely that the complainant suffered his injury when he fell on the icy pavement. If, however, the injury was caused by the efforts of the police officers to arrest the complainant, I cannot find that to have been an excessive use of force.”
Police were called to the gas station on Feb. 16, 2016 after receiving reports a man had fallen in the parking lot and couldn’t get up. Officers arrested the man for public intoxication and transported him to the Balmoral Street station. Surveillance video footage of his booking showed he was brought in with his hands handcuffed behind his back, according to the SIU report.
The reported noted the complainant was not seen physically struggling with the officers and it was necessary for the officers to hold him up to remove his jacket. There was no action by either of the two officers that would have fractured the man’s arm, the report added.
A witness officer noted scrapes on the man’s cheeks and chin but did not observe an injury to his arm. Through cell video, the officer did notice the man did not appear to be using his left arm.
When the complainant was released after being held overnight, another officer noticed the man’s arm appeared to hanging motionless.
“It’s not working ‘cause I told the police officer I had my rotary cuff done. And he just basically didn’t give a crap. It frickin hurts like hell,” the complainant told the officer.
The man went to the hospital following his release, where he was found to have fractured his left arm. The complaint was filed to the OIPRD on June 29, 2016.
“It is clear that there is any number of explanations for the complainant’s injury, including his explanation to medical staff that he had fallen the night before. It is very possible that the complainant did not realize when his injury occurred due to the fact that he was anesthetized to the pain due to his level of intoxication,” Lopraco concluded.
“It may well be that when the complainant began to sober in the cells at the station, and began to recognize that he was in pain, that he simply associated that pain with his present predicament and laid the responsibility at the feet of the police officers.
