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SIU finds no grounds to charge OPP officer in Sioux Lookout case

Complainant suffered a fractured collarbone
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SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. -- Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has cleared the OPP of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with the arrest of a man in Sioux Lookout.

The complainant, 27, alleged that he suffered a broken collarbone because officers handcuffed him aggressively when they arrested him for breaching a court order on November 30, 2016.

The SIU interviewed five civilian witnesses, including individuals who had observed the man's actions outside a local homeless shelter the day of his arrest.

According to the SIU's summary of the incident "there is an absolute absence of any evidence capable of supporting a conclusion that the complainant's injuries were caused at the hands of the police officers who arrested him."

Witnesses described how the man was cooperative, willingly putting his hands behind his back to be handcuffed when instructed, and said his hands were never forcefully pulled back.

At the hospital, he told various individuals he had consumed an entire 26-ounce bottle of vodka that day.

Witnesses also indicated the complainant had facial injuries prior to his arrest, told various people he had been beaten up earlier in a fight, and was seen on his hands and knees on the ground near the shelter prior to police intervention.

The SIU concluded that it was far more likely that he either injured his collarbone in a fall, "or he dislocated his shoulder when he fell and later broke his clavicle when he smashed his shoulder into the wall of the (police) cell in an attempt to put his shoulder back into alignment."

As part of their investigation, SIU staff viewed closed-circuit TV video recorded at the shelter and at the OPP detachment. 


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