WARNING: this story contains references to threats of suicide.
MISHKEEGOGAMANG — The province’s Special Investigations Unit has cleared two officers with the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service after an investigation into how a man in custody in Mishkeegogamang had his fingers crushed in a holding cell door.
On Friday, SIU director Joseph Martino announced his ruling that there were no reasonable grounds for criminal charges against the two officers. The man suffered two fractured fingers. Martino said, if a charge was to be laid, it would be criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
“The offence is reserved for serious cases of neglect that demonstrate a wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons,” he wrote in his decision.
He wrote that whether, in this case, “there was a want of care on the part of the complainant’s custodians, including (the two officers), sufficiently egregious to attract criminal sanction, that caused or contributed to the complainant’s injuries — in my view, there was not.”
According to Martino’s report, the 33 year-old man was arrested for assault on Jan. 13 and held in a cell at the NAPS Mishkeegogamang detachment. While incarcerated, the man started to make “suicidal utterances,” the report said, which prompted the two officers to enter the cell, remove his clothing and put him in a “security gown.”
Martino’s report said the man then started to bite at and tear the gown, which caused the officers to be concerned he would use the gown or pieces of it for self-harm.
The officers then reportedly removed the gown, and went to exit the cell while pushing the man away several times when he attempted to follow them out. Martino wrote that on the last push, the officers closed the cell door behind them, but the man, attempting again to exit the door, had his hand caught between the door jam and the door.
Officers provided first aid on site, Martino wrote, and the man was then taken to the community’s nursing station where he was diagnosed with fractures of two fingers.
“It is regrettable that the complainant had his fingers crushed by the cell door, but I am unable to attribute that misfortune to any neglect on the part of the officers,” Martino wrote.
“They had done what they could to create distance with the complainant and were within their rights in closing the door behind them,” he continued. “That the complainant was able to reach the door before it was fully closed was, in my view, more a function of his tenacity than any miscalculation on the part of the officers.”
The SIU is a police oversight body that conducts investigations into cases where there has been a death, serious injury, a discharge of a firearm at a person or sexual assault, involving police.
If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available through Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline (call or text 988), Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868; text 686868; kidshelpphone.ca), and the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (suicideprevention.ca/resources).
