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Windsor officers used 'legally justified force' after breaking man’s nose during arrest: SIU

The province's police watchdog has invoked its mandate into an early morning death investigation in Tay Township. (CTV NEWS/File photo) The province's police watchdog has invoked its mandate into an early morning death investigation in Tay Township. (CTV NEWS/File photo)
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The Ontario Special Investigations Unit deemed there are no reasonable grounds to believe two Windsor police officers committed a criminal offence after a 58-year-old man’s nose was broken during an arrest.

On Dec. 21, 2022, officers were called to an apartment in Riverside following a 911 call about a man refusing to leave and fighting with a resident.

The report said the man refused officers’ direction to leave and struck an officer. Officers struck the man several times and forced him down twice.

“With respect to the force used by the officers, namely, multiple strikes and takedowns of the Complainant, I am satisfied that it constituted legally justified force,” said SIU Director Joseph Martino.

Martino said when the complainant vigorously resisted arrest and struck out at the officers, the officers were within their rights in attempting to overcome his resistance by delivering strikes of their own and taking him to the floor where any additional resistance could be better managed.

“And they appear to have done so in a measured and proportionate manner, the overall quantum of force divvied into two segments, each precipitated by the complainant’s combativeness and violence,” added Martino.

The file is now closed.

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