THUNDER BAY — Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has found there are no grounds to believe a member of the Thunder Bay Police Service committed a criminal offence in connection with an incident involving a person who stabbed herself with a knife.
The case dates back to April of this year when a mental health team consisting of TBPS officers and a mental health professional were dispatched to a local address where a woman was in the throes of a violent, drug-induced psychotic episode.
According to an SIU report released Monday, police arrived to find her in a hallway on the other side of closed doors, asked her to put the knife down, and told her they were there to help her.
A civilian member of the team also tried to communicate with her and calm her down, but subsequently announced to the police that she had stabbed herself in the neck, prompting the officers to discuss use-of-force options.
This all happened, the SIU stated, within a minute of the team's arrival.
When the woman slumped to the floor and tossed the knife, officers rushed into the hallway and handcuffed her before providing first aid, and escalated their intervention to the application of chest compressions when she temporarily stopped breathing.
The woman was taken to hospital by paramedics in critical but stable condition.
During its investigation, the SIU considered whether a charge of criminal negligence causing bodily harm was merited.
It determined that, within the brief time they had to work before the woman stabbed herself, "the officers comported themselves with due care and attention for the complainant's wellbeing," SIU director Joseph Martino wrote in his decision.
"Given the knife in the complainant's hands, the officers were wise not to rush at the complainant. The aim was to settle her if they could, rather than risk provoking the complainant into rash behaviour. Regrettably, given the speed with which events unfolded, there was no opportunity to use less-lethal weaponry to temporarily incapacitate the complainant," he said.
The director found it was clear that none of the officers transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law, and that in fact the first aid they dispensed might well have saved the woman's life.
