SIU clears Ottawa police of wrongdoing in May 2016 arrest

Ontario's police watchdog has cleared two Ottawa police officers of wrongdoing after a 2016 arrest.

On May 13, 2016, three Ottawa police officers were dispatched to a home in Vanier after a man called 911 to say he had been assaulted and that a vehicle he owned had been stolen by its registered owner.

The officers told him the vehicle's ownership was a civil matter, not a criminal one, and that there was insufficient evidence of an assault, according to a report posted on the Special Investigations Unit website.

The officers then left, and the dissatisfied man called 911 multiple times, the SIU found.

The officers returned, along with others, but the man continued to call 911 after they reiterated their position on the allegations.

Left hospital without being assessed

"At this time, the complainant was placed under arrest for causing a disturbance and public mischief, handcuffed with his hands behind his back, and placed into the rear of a cruiser," the SIU's report reads.

An ambulance was requested after the man said his implantable cardioverter defibrillator had gone off. After the ambulance arrived and the man got in, one of the officers entered to remove the man's handcuffs, and he was taken to hospital.

But after arriving at hospital, the man "left without being assessed," the SIU found.

In the following days the man alleged he had been injured.

'Used no more force than was reasonably necessary'

"On a review of all of the evidence, I find that there are numerous inconsistencies between the complainant's allegations and his complaints to police, paramedics and hospital staff and it is evident that the complainant exaggerated, if not outright fabricated, his various medical maladies," SIU director Tony Loparco wrote in the report.

"Finally, I am unable to find that the actions of police officers who were involved in the arrest, handcuffing and removal of handcuffs from the complainant acted in any way that would have caused the sprain or contusion to the complainant's wrist. If, however, this was the source of the complainant's injury, which is highly unlikely, I find that ... the officers involved used no more force than was reasonably necessary in the execution of their lawful duties in apprehending an aggressive, agitated man."

The investigation is concluded and the officers are not facing charges, Loparco wrote.