The province's Special Investigations Unit has concluded there are no grounds to charge police with a criminal offence after a 49-year-old Kitchener man suffered serious injuries in the course of his arrest last September.
The man suffered a brain bleed after one of the arresting officers punched him in the face to subdue him after the man punched another officer while resisting arrest.
After being punched, the man fell, struck his head and he lost consciousness.
Paramedics were called and the man was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a brain bleed.
The police watchdog says it all went down Sept. 21, 2024 after Waterloo regional police received a call from an Uber driver who said he'd been assaulted by a man while making an alcohol delivery to an address near Bleams and Strasburg roads in Kitchener.
The Uber driver told police he argued with a woman at the address after she snatched the alcohol he was delivering after being refused delivery because she was intoxicated.
When the driver refused to return a health card she provided as identification, the woman "became irate and informed the complainant."
A man exited the residence and confronted the Uber driver, "pushing him in the chest and chasing him."
Police arrived soon after the driver called to say he'd been assaulted.
Most of their interaction was captured on video and audio from either witness cell phones or an in-cruiser camera.
While the officers spoke to the man and woman at the address about what happened, the man "became aggressive with the officers and bumped up against" one of their chests.
The officer pushed him away and the man was asked to calm down, but when "his belligerence did not abate, they decided to arrest him for breach of the peace and public intoxication."
As one of the officers approached the man and took hold of his left arm from behind, the man reacted by turning around and punching the officer in the face. Seeing that assault, the other officer immediately punched the complainant in the face, sending him to the ground where he struck his head.
In his decision, SIU director Joseph Martino said the officer "used no more force than was reasonably necessary in effecting the complainant's arrest."
The delivery of a single punch was a "proportionate response" and was done to "deter further attack and subdue a violent detainee," Martino wrote.
"In the result, while it is regrettable that the Complainant fell, struck his head and suffered a brain bleed, his injury is not attributable to any unlawful conduct on the part of the [officer]. As such, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case. The file is closed."