Ontario’s civilian police watchdog has cleared an OPP officer of any wrongdoing after a man was seriously injured by a police service dog in the village of Tweed in March.
Special Investigations Unit director Joseph Martino said that at around 1:30 a.m. on March 1, Ontario Provincial Police officers found a 47-year-old man exiting a residence in Tweed and entering a pickup truck driven by another man. The complainant was in breach of a curfew and subject to two arrest warrants.
One officer decided to follow the pickup truck but lost sight of it, Martino said in the SIU report.
The subject officer continued his search and was in his vehicle and stopped at an intersection of Flinton and Robinson roads an hour later when the pickup truck “approached his cruiser from behind on a collision course,” Martino said.
Martino said the pickup truck veered into a ditch and came to a stop, then two men inside got out and fled on foot.
OPP launched a search using its emergency response team, including the subject officer and his police service dog. Around 4 a.m., Martino said the canine located the complainant in a wooded area. He had “concealed himself” underneath a tree.
Martino said the police service dog bit the man on his lower right leg and held him until officers could handcuff him.
The man was taken to hospital in Napanee for surgery as a result of the dog bite wounds, Martino said.
The other man was located in a barn and arrested without incident.
Martino said the SIU’s investigation, which included testimony from witnesses, body-worn camera footage and history of the dog’s service, determined that the force used in the man’s arrest was not unlawful, noting the man had twice fled from officers, once in the vehicle, then again on foot.
“In the circumstances, the police would have had reason to believe that the complainant was determined to escape and prepared to resist arrest when and if found,” Martino said. “It was also dark out, the terrain was uneven, and the complainant had chosen to conceal himself.”
Martino concluded the use of the dog to locate the man and to hold him until he was arrested was a “reasonable tactic” by the officer.
“The extent of the injuries caused by the dog was unfortunate,” Martino said. “That said, the deployment of a dog in such circumstances always comes with a risk of injury and there was nothing in the dog’s history to suggest the dog would inflict greater injury than was necessary when he found the complainant.
“For the foregoing reasons, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case. The file is closed.”