The Director of Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, Tony Loparco, said today there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against a North Bay police officer in relation to the death of a 38-year-old Ottawa-area man who fell from an 8th-floor building window.
On December 4, 2016, at 12:55 p.m., Emergency Medical Service personnel received a 911 call to an address in North Bay (not released by police), for a man with Mental Health Act issues.
The man refused treatment but EMS personnel reported finding needles in the apartment and the man had a history of drug use and seizures.
Police officers were called and talked to the man but he refused any assistance and the police officers left.
Minutes later police got a telephone call that a man had jumped from the building, from about 20 metres, and when they arrived they found him dead on the ground.
The scene of the death was a paved sidewalk of the apartment building. The window screen for the stairwell window on the 8th floor directly above the sidewalk was damaged and had been pushed outward from the bottom right corner.
Toxicological blood analysis showed the presence of bupropion, methadone, cocaine metabolite, fentanyl, and morphine but the cause of death was determined to be multiple trauma.
In the SIU report, it stated the man's roommate had wanted the man removed from the premises because he could not live with him any longer. The roommate told police that he had spoken to the man in the lobby, and the man threatened to hang himself if he was not allowed back in.
Police initially found him by the elevator and explained that they were only there to check on his well-being and to explore his comment about hanging himself.
According to the officers, he was not aggressive or confrontational and said the reason he threatened to hang himself was that he was mad at his roommate for not letting him back in the apartment. He denied being suicidal. The man admitted to a history of intravenous drug abuse but told the officers he was injecting his own prescribed oral medication. Earlier, the roommate had pointed to a grocery bag in the apartment that contained two syringes, a burnt spoon, scale and a prescription bottle.
The roommate said the man had threatened suicide in the past in an effort to get his own way but had never made any attempts. An offer was made to escort the man to a shelter, hospital or detox centre but he declined.
Despite their urging, he steadfastly declined each offer of assistance. He advised the officers that he had a place he could stay. They did not believe that the Complainant was a threat to himself or others, and there was no indication he could not care for himself.
About five minutes later, the NBPS received a number of 911 calls about a man falling from an apartment building. Units were dispatched and a witness reported that he saw the man fall from a top story window and noted the man was alone at the time.
When an officer arrived back at the apartment building, he found the man dead on a sidewalk. Paramedics arrived within minutes.
"It is evident that the Complainant’s death was caused by his own action, without any involvement by police officers," reported Loparco. "Although the involved officers had no physical or verbal interaction with the Complainant at the time he fell, they were engaged in discussion with him within the half hour immediately prior. The first 911 call about a man falling from the apartment building was received only about five minutes after the last of the two officers left the area.
"The question to be addressed is whether their interactions or lack thereof with the Complainant proximate to his death during the course of their lawful duty displayed a wanton or reckless disregard for his life or safety, and were a marked and substantial departure from the conduct of a reasonably prudent police officer in the circumstances, as such establishing the offence of criminal negligence causing death contrary to section 220 of the Criminal Code. Based on the evidence from this investigation, I do not believe this was the case.
"The Complainant’s death was a tragedy. However, to attempt to determine the Complainant’s motivations at the time he jumped would be speculative."
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