Warning: This story contains details some readers may find disturbing
THUNDER BAY — Officers with the Thunder Bay Police Service have been cleared of any wrongdoing after a man in custody suffered a serious self-inflicted injury.
The Special Investigation Unit said in a statement issued on Thursday that it has terminated its investigation into an incident involving a 38-year-old man and two officers with Thunder Bay Police Service.
The officers were first called to a residence in the area of Red River Road and Junot Avenue on July 27 regarding a man in crisis.
The man was taken into custody under the Mental Health Act and placed in the back of a police vehicle with his hands secured in front of his body with handcuffs.
While in the backseat, the man gouged out one of his eyes. The officers stopped and secured his hands behind his back and transported him to hospital.
According to the SIU report, there was no warning given to officers that the man was about to commit any self-harm and therefore had no opportunity to take preventative action.
“Nor could the officers have reasonably foreseen that the man would take advantage of the fact that his hands were handcuffed to the front to gouge his eye; he had been compliant and cooperative when apprehended,” the statement from the SIU reads.
The statement goes on to read that: “it was evident that the man harmed himself and nothing the officers did or failed to do contributed to the man’s injury.”
The SIU is called upon to investigate any interactions involving police that results in injury, death, or allegations of sexual assault.
