The Special Investigations Unit says it has no reasonable grounds to charge any North Bay police officer after a man they arrested claimed police broke his ribs.
Early in the evening of May 24th, 2018 police got a call from an employee at the Community Counselling Centre of Nipissing.
The worker told police that one of the CCCN’s clients was intoxicated, out of control and running into traffic.
The employee also said the client was scratched up and appeared to have a broken rib.
Police arrested the man and put him in jail.
The next morning the man complained about a pain in his ribs and he was taken to the hospital where it was learned his ribs were broken.
Then on May 31st, the man called the SIU to say that police used force while he was in custody and they fractured two of his ribs.
The SIU says a video of the arrest at the police station paints a different picture.
The agency says at one point the video shows the man bent over a table so that officers could remove his shoes.
The SIU says at no time is he thrown on the table and there is no indication on the video to show he was injured at that time.
In addition, as the prisoner is being escorted to a jail cell police guided him through a doorway and into the cell without the man making any contact with the door or jail bars.
The SIU says the video doesn’t offer any indication of how the man got hurt or if someone was behind his injury.
However, it’s satisfied in its conclusion that police were not the cause of the fractures.
The SIU also points out the video shows the man was intoxicated which was a violation of a condition of his probation.
The SIU says police used reasonable and marginal force during the arrest when removing the man’s shoes.
It says this would not have been enough to break his ribs.
The SIU says there is no basis to lay criminal charges against the North Bay police and has closed the file on the matter.
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