A Toronto Police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing after a man suffered a fractured sternum when he was struck by bean bag rounds during an arrest at a Scarborough hospital earlier this year, Ontario’s police watchdog says.
In a report dated Oct. 9, Special Investigations Unit (SIU) Director Joseph Martino said there were no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident.
The SIU launched an investigation following a June 14 arrest at Scarborough Centenary Hospital, located at 2867 Ellesmere Rd., which resulted in the man sustaining a serious injury.
According to the report, officers were called to the hospital shortly after 10:30 a.m. after receiving reports of a man allegedly threatening people with a knife or scissors.
Investigators say a 26-year-old man had entered the hospital carrying a fork and followed a physician while holding the object.
Hospital security approached the man and repeatedly urged him to put down the fork, but he refused and continued waving it toward security personnel.
The SIU says video evidence showed two officers arriving at the hospital lobby around 10:36 a.m., with one carrying a less-lethal shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds.
As a security guard attempted to restrain the man from behind, an officer fired a bean bag round, striking him. A second round was discharged shortly afterward while the man was on the ground.
Despite repeated commands to drop the fork, the man continued holding it and threw objects toward officers.
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Shortly after, another officer deployed a conducted energy weapon, causing the man to fall forward and allowing officers to take him into custody.
He was subsequently treated at the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a fractured sternum.
In his decision, Martino concluded the officer’s use of force was reasonably necessary given the circumstances, including the potential threat to hospital staff, patients and others nearby.
He noted that the officer had chosen a less-lethal weapon and was responding to a situation involving an armed individual in a hospital.
Although the investigation determined that at least one bean bag round caused the man’s injury, Martino found no grounds to proceed with criminal charges.
The case is now closed.
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