SIU clears Niagara officers after Lincoln arrest injury

The Special Investigations Unit has cleared Niagara Regional Police officers in the July 18 arrest of a 40-year-old man who suffered a fractured leg outside a restaurant in Lincoln, Ont.

SIU Director Joseph Martino found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer under investigation committed a criminal offence, according to a director’s report for case 26-OCI-331 dated Nov. 6, 2026. The file is closed.

The report said the restaurant owner called police at 5:25 p.m. about a man causing a disturbance after the owner had told him to leave. Officers removed him, but he returned and the owner called again at 7:05 p.m. Two Niagara Regional Police officers arrived and spent about half an hour trying to persuade the man to leave. The report said he swore at them and raised his voice, drawing the attention of diners on the patio.

At about 7:30 p.m., as the man stepped onto the driveway beside the restaurant, the officer under investigation took hold of his right arm. The report said the two tussled, the man tripped over a curb and fell, and the second officer joined in. The man got up and tried to pull away. The officer then used a leg sweep to take him down again. The man was handcuffed behind the back after the officers wrestled him to keep him on the ground.

At the Niagara Regional Police holding facility, the man complained of pain to his ribs and leg. He was taken to Greater Niagara General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a fractured right fibular head.

Martino concluded the officers were within their rights to arrest the man under the Criminal Code and the Trespass to Property Act. He wrote that the evidence showed the man repeatedly disturbed the peace around the restaurant over a long period and walked onto its private property despite knowing he was not welcome.

On the force used, Martino wrote that the takedown made sense because it would help officers manage the physical resistance the man had shown when first grabbed. He said the man kept resisting by refusing to release his arms to be handcuffed and trying to stand, and that officers responded with like force. The report said neither officer struck him at any time. Martino accepted that the fractures happened during the arrest but said he could not reasonably conclude they resulted from unlawful conduct.

The officer under investigation declined to be interviewed or to provide notes, which is his legal right. The second officer was interviewed, and five civilian witnesses gave statements to the SIU. The report does not name the man or the officers.

The SIU investigates incidents involving police in Ontario that result in death, serious injury, allegations of sexual assault or a firearm being discharged at a person. The director can lay charges only if there are reasonable grounds to believe an offence was committed. In October the unit cleared Niagara police in a fatal shooting in Welland. This week it also cleared Toronto officers in another July arrest, and earlier this month it charged a Halton police sergeant over a 2025 pursuit.

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