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A police watchdog has closed its investigation into the arrest of a 46-year-old man in Ottawa in March, saying there were “no reasonable grounds” to believe the man’s lacerated spleen was attributable to unlawful conduct on the part of an Ottawa Police Service officer.
A report by Special Investigations Unit director Joseph Martino, posted Wednesday, said the spleen injury was diagnosed following the man’s arrest east of the St. Patrick Street bridge on March 25.
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The report said Martino accepted that the injury was the likely result of a knee strike delivered by the officer during the arrest of the man, saying he resisted and was grounded by police officers as he was arrested in connection with a reported theft of whisky from an LCBO outlet on Beechwood Avenue.
After being transported to the police station and booked, the man was taken to court for a bail hearing. While in the courthouse holding cells, he complained of pain in his abdomen. Paramedics transported him to the Montfort Hospital, where he was diagnosed with three fractured ribs and a lacerated spleen, and then transferred to the Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital for treatment.
Three SIU investigators interviewed the arrested man and reviewed both medical records and cellblock video. The Ottawa Police Service officer who was the subject of the review exercised the right not to be interviewed.
“I am satisfied that the complainant was subject to arrest at the time of the events in question. He matched the description of a male said to have just stolen a quantity of alcohol from a nearby LCBO,” Martino wrote in the report.
“I am also satisfied that the evidence falls short of reasonably establishing that the complainant was subjected to unlawful force during his arrest.”
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