The province's Special Investigations Unit cleared a Saugeen Shores police officer of any criminal wrong-doing for fracturing a man's leg and ribs during an arrest.
The SIU said the incident happened on December 11, 2018 around 1 p.m. at the Bruce Telecom building on Green Street in Port Elgin.
In a written account of the incident, the SIU says the 46-year-old suspect had been seen driving a vehicle by the subject officer despite being prohibited from driving. The man was also wanted on an outstanding warrant. There was a pursuit and the suspect briefly went into the ditch before getting back on the road.
Another officer saw the suspect vehicle stopped at the Bruce Telecom store and the suspect get out. She stopped her vehicle behind the suspect's car and pointed a taser at him, ordering him to the ground. The suspect ignored the officer and walked into the store. The officer followed him into the store where the suspect continued to ignore her commands to surrender, walking towards two employees of the store.
The subject officer arrived within moments, and the SIU said he walked past the second officer and tackled the man to the ground. There was a physical altercation and the man was eventually put into handcuffs. The SIU said the subject officer kneed the man twice in the upper body before he was taken into custody.
SIU Interim Director Joseph Martino found "no fault with the subject officer's decision to tackle the suspect, nor his decision to knee" him as he resisted arrest. While the SIU found there was no doubt the officer's actions caused the man's injuries, the use of force did not fall "outside the latitude permitted by the criminal law."
