The province's Serious Incident Response Team has cleared two Bridgewater police officers after an investigation into injuries sustained by a man earlier this year.
On the morning of June 23, officers arrested the man for impaired driving and took him to the police station. While he was in the interview room awaiting processing, he became aggressive, pounding on the door and yelling for about 25 minutes about wanting to talk to his lawyer, but refusing to say who his lawyer was.
When the officers went into the interview room the man threw a chair at them, hitting one of them. He was tackled and handcuffed, with the entire incident taking about 15 seconds and recorded on video.
An ambulance was called, but the man wouldn't co-operate with the paramedics or allow them to assess him, despite telling them he had broken ribs and a broken collarbone. He was taken to hospital, but refused assistance from the doctor, and refused to have x-rays taken.
He called police the next day after being released, asking about his driver's licence and how to get his car released from the impound lot, but made no mention of injuries. He went to hospital three days later, where x-rays showed several broken ribs and a fractured collarbone
SiRT director Felix Cacchione said in his report that the officers had reasonable grounds to use as much force as necessary to control the man's
behaviour.
"The force used ... was objectively reasonable having regard to the violence exhibited by the (man)," Cacchione said. "The force used (by the officers) was proportional, necessary, reasonable and no more than necessary in the circumstances. The officers were entitled to defend themselves against the violence exhibited toward them by the (man).
The full report is available here.
