The police watchdog in Ontario has cleared a Chatham-Kent (CK) police officer of any wrongdoing after a woman suffered a spinal injury during an arrest.
The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Joseph Martino, said he found no reasonable grounds to believe the CK police officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the spinal injury suffered by the 38-year-old woman during her arrest on August 24, 2025, during a family altercation.
The SIU said the woman called police to a residence at Keil Drive South and Richmond Street in Chatham for an assault, but she was arrested for obstruction of justice after making contact and hand-grappling with an officer.
According to the SIU, the officer took the woman’s left arm and walked her to the cruiser. However, she was released at the scene and later was diagnosed with disc excursion, a severe type of herniated disc, requiring surgery. The woman, the SIU said, was still recovering from spinal surgery on July 7, 2025.
Director Martino noted it was alleged that the officer manhandled the woman during her arrest and subsequent walk to his vehicle, but the in-car-camera footage contradicted that claim.
"While the officer perhaps compelled the woman forward a little quicker than she would have liked given a pre-existing back condition, the footage fell well short of establishing excessive force," said Martino.
He concluded that the force used by the officer in arresting the woman was lawful, and the file is now closed.
"This consisted of some manual force to overcome her initial resistance and control her arms behind the back, and a degree of pressure to the Complainant’s left arm as he held and pulled her along at points during the escort to his cruiser," said Martino. "While it may be that the Complainant’s injury was incurred in the struggle with the SO (subject officer), there are no reasonable grounds to believe that it is attributable to unlawful conduct on the part of the officer. As such, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case."
