OTTAWA -- Ontario's police watchdog agency has found no wrongdoing on the part of the Ottawa Police after a man who was arrested last year claimed he was assaulted by an officer.
Ottawa police officers arrested the man, who was wanted by Smiths Falls Police, Sept. 16, 2019 outside the Shepherds of Good Hope shelter on Murray Street.
According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), when Smiths Falls officers came to get him at the Ottawa police station, they noticed the man had some swelling and bruising to his left eye and cheek. A CT scan determined he had a fracture.
The man claimed he had been sucker punched by an Ottawa officer and then arrested, but the SIU investigation found that was not the case.
The SIU reviewed CCTV camera footage from the shelter, which showed the arrest in its entirety and revealed the arrest took place without incident and without any use of force. The video also showed the officer named in the complaint was at the scene but was not the one who arrested the suspect
The SIU also says the complainant reportedly told medical staff at the Smiths Falls Hospital that his injury was caused when he was jumped by someone else before his arrest.
Due to the CCTV footage being definitive, the SIU says the case was closed with no charges.
