While the province’s Special Investigations Unit found no reasonable grounds to believe a police officer committed a criminal offence during the beating and arrest of a man in Mississauga last fall, the police watchdog agency said the force used “was significant and subject to legitimate scrutiny.”

As a result, SIU Director Joseph Martino said in a news release late Wednesday he’ll be referring the matter to the chief of Halton Regional Police “for review and action as the service deems appropriate.”

The SIU noted its referral also relates to other matters, including questions surrounding rules of police pursuits that may have been violated.

Additionally, said the head of the SIU, the case will also be referred to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, an independent civilian oversight body that seeks to ensure all public complaints against police are dealt with in a manner that is transparent, effective and fair.

Martino noted the SIU, a civilian agency that looks into incidents in which members of the public are seriously hurt or killed during interactions with police, is legally obligated to bring the matter to the attention of the civilian complaints agency.

In completing its investigation into the matter, the SIU said in its news release a 38-year-old man who led Halton police on a pursuit from Oakville into Mississauga in the early morning hours last Nov. 4 sustained “multiple facial fractures” during his subsequent arrest. 

In its summation, the SIU said the chase began after a Halton police officer tried to pull over a pickup truck in Oakville a few minutes after 12:30 a.m.

The driver of the pickup, suspected by police of being impaired, sped away from police and led officers on a 12-minute pursuit that ended on Lakeshore Road West, at Avonhead Road, in Mississauga’s southwest end near the Oakville border.

In its narrative of events, the SIU said the pursuit reached speeds as high as 120 km/h before coming to an end when police vehicles performed a controlled stop of the pickup.

After being stopped, the man refused to get out of the pickup and was “forcefully removed” by police, the provincial agency stated.

During the series of events, the SIU said, “the man was Tasered, pepper sprayed, punched, kicked and kneed” repeatedly by the Halton police officers.

At one point, according to the SIU, “there were six police officers positioned immediately around and on top” of the man. One of the officers then “stood up from the pile of police officers” and kicked the man six times, the SIU added.

The man was subsequently arrested and taken to Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, where he was treated for facial fractures, the SIU said, adding “surgery was recommended” by doctors.

In Martino’s summation, he said he “found no reasonable grounds to believe a Halton Regional Police Service officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the facial fractures.”

While the force used “to take the man into custody was significant and subject to legitimate scrutiny,” Martino added he was “unable to reasonably conclude with any confidence that it went beyond what was necessary in the circumstances.”


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