POLICE CLEARED IN INCIDENT THAT LEFT WOMAN INJURED

A RECENT INVESTIGATION BY KAWARTHA LAKES POLICE SERVICE CORROBORATED THE FINDINGS OF THE SIU

An internal investigation has found no wrongdoing on the part of a Kawartha Lakes Police officer following an incident last summer that left a woman with a broken nose.

Police were called to Lindsay Cleaners laundromat on Kent Street West July 10, 2022 by a staff member who was having a dispute with a women over the use of a gift card, according to the investigation report, written by Insp. Kirk Robertson. The staff member was asking police to attend and remove the woman from the business. Police arrived within a few minutes of the call and, according to the report, could hear the woman yelling from the street outside.

"Once the officers were inside, the customer began screaming obscenities at them," and refused to leave the business, Robertson writes, then throwing her laundry, which may have been infested with bed bugs, in the direction of the officers.

"At this time officers formed the grounds to arrest the customer for causing a disturbance. The customer provided resistance to the arrest so they were taken to the ground in order for the officers to gain control and place them in handcuffs," reads the report.

The investigation narrative continues that, while being loaded into the policer cruiser, the woman, "bumped their face off the side of the cruiser by their own doing."

Once the woman calmed down and agreed to leave the area, Robertson notes, she was released without being charged, but later showed up at the police station to complain about the interaction. At some point after that, she was diagnosed with a broken nose.

More than a month later, on Aug. 18, an official complaint was filed through the Office of the Independent Police Review

Director and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) began their investigation.

By Dec. 16, the SIU closed its investigation with no charges laid.

"In my view, there were no reasonable grounds in the evidence to proceed with criminal charges against the official," SIU director Joseph Martino wrote in his report at the time.

The in-house investigation was conducted to look at officer conduct under the scope of official policies and procedures after the SIU ruled out any criminal wrongdoing.

Robertson found that the initial arrest was lawful, as the woman was trespassing and causing a disturbance in a public place.

"It is not known how the injury to the customer's nose happened, whether during the arrest or when she bumped her face off the cruiser," the internal investigation concludes.

"There was also no evidence to suggest the that the officers used more force than was necessary to carry out the arrest. During the investigation and review there was no evidence to support that the customer was assaulted by the officers."