The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says charges will not be laid against a Toronto police officer involved in the takedown of a cyclist along Queens Quay earlier this year.
In an update Tuesday, SIU director Joseph Martino said he found no reasonable grounds to believe a Toronto Police Service officer committed a criminal offence “in connection with the serious injury of a 21-year-old cyclist.”
The takedown — captured on video and shared widely online — occurred on May 31 near Little Norway Crescent where police officers were conducting a stop‑sign enforcement blitz.
The near-one-minute clip, posted to X by cycling advocate and personal injury lawyer David Shellnutt, appeared to show two officers forcefully bringing a cyclist to the ground as bystanders react in shock.
In the video, which shows only a portion of the interaction, the cyclist could be heard asking, “What did I do wrong?” while an officer responded, “You didn’t stop.”
The SIU report said that because the man failed to stop and attempted to evade the officer by cycling around him, the SIU director said he “rendered himself subject to arrest.”
According to the report, body-worn camera footage captured the cyclist passing through the intersection and not stopping at the stop sign. It said the cyclist was captured looking to his right towards two police officers and said, “F*** the police.”
The report said those officers then directed two other officers to stop the cyclist at which point the officer involved stepped in front of the cyclist. It said the cyclist then went around him at that point.
“The subject officer chased after him on foot and extended his left arm to make contact with a backpack the complainant was wearing. The complainant lost control of his bicycle and toppled over onto the grass boulevard and sidewalk on the north side of Queens Quay West,” read the director’s report.
The report added it was unclear in the footage whether the officer made contact with the cyclist’s backpack intending to grab hold of him or to push him off the bike.
“There is always a risk that physically engaging a cyclist might result in a fall, but the risk of injury was a moderate one in this case as the complainant had significantly slowed when the officer stepped out in front of him,” the document said.
When it came to the officer’s efforts to wrestle the complainant to the ground, the director’s report said the subject officer “would have been rightly concerned that the complainant would continue his efforts to flee.”
The report said the cyclist was diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury following the incident.
The incident happened as Toronto enters peak cycling season and amid ongoing debate about how the city enforces traffic laws on the waterfront trail. In years past, police faced criticism for similar blitzes targeting cyclists rolling through stop signs.
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