The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has found no reasonable grounds to believe that two OPP officers committed a criminal offence in connection with shooting Anti-Riot Weapon Enfield (ARWEN) weapons at a 28-year-old man in Penetanguishene.
On June 11, 2022, officers were called to a residence for a man in distress and attempted to take him into custody. The man barricaded himself in the home. During the course of multiple interactions, the man was struck by ARWEN rounds. The man was arrested and taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured arm.
While Director Martino accepted that the fractured arm was incurred at some point in his interaction with the police, whether the result of his fall down the stairs or being struck by one or more ARWEN rounds, or some combination of the two, he was not satisfied that it is attributable to any unlawful conduct on the part of the involved officers. Accordingly, there was no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case. The file has been closed.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision): https://siu.on.ca/en/directors_report_details.php?drid=2150
