A Special Investigations Unit mobile command centre is seen in this file photo. (Photo: SIU)
Officers used “lawful force” to subdue a knife-wielding man who made threats against his housemate in Brampton, Ontario’s police watchdog says.
The incident happened back on May 31 when officers with Peel Regional Police were called to a home near Sandalwood Parkway West and McLaughlin Road North in Brampton, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit says.
One tenant of the home was doing laundry when one of the property’s other tenants threatened the victim with a knife. The male suspect reportedly waved the knife in the victim’s face, but no one was injured.
But the man then went outside and damaged a vehicle while continuing to threaten others inside the home, the SIU says. The man was recorded on video with a 10-centimetre-long kitchen knife while the victim inside filmed the incident on a cellphone.
Police arrived on the scene and ordered the man to his knees, and then instructed him to lay flat on his stomach. But the suspect “either did not understand the instruction or refused to comply,” leading one of the officers to kick the man in the back.
“When the complainant subsequently lifted his shirt above the waist, the (officer) moved in quickly and kicked him in the back,” an SIU report of the incident reads.
“The strike propelled the complainant forward onto his front. He struck his face on the road and broke his nose in the process,” the SIU says.
And while the SIU’s investigation found officers “used only lawful force” to take the suspect into custody, one of the officers involved did not activate his body-worn camera “in a timely fashion,” in possible violation of the Police Code of Conduct.
“I will be referring this matter to the chief of police and, pursuant to section 35.1 of the Special Investigations Act, 2019, to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency,” SIU Director Joseph Martino said in his decision.
The incident is at least the second in the same month in which the SIU found issues with Peel police officers turning on body-worn cameras.
On March 17, a Peel police officer was on patrol in a marked cruiser when an automatic licence plate recognition device detected a stolen vehicle parked outside the Hasty Market on Queen Street East. An SIU investigation found that an officer committed “possible misconduct” under the Police Code of Conduct for not activating his body-worn camera until after the incident ended.
The SIU said the officer “had ample opportunity” to turn his camera on prior to approaching the driver’s door, “but failed to do so, only turning it on after the Complainant had been removed from the vehicle.”
The SIU is Ontario’s police watchdog agency that investigates police incidents in Ontario involving death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm, or allegations of sexual assault.
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