Police Not Facing Charges After Milton Hospital Patient Sustained Serious Injuries

Published February 8, 2019 at 7:44 pm

Halton Police officers will not be facing charges after a Milton District Hospital (MDH) patient sustained serious injuries.

Halton Police officers will not be facing charges after a Milton District Hospital (MDH) patient sustained serious injuries.

On Feb. 14 of last year, according to a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report, a 39-year-old man deliberately overdosed on prescribed medication. The male, the report reads, was despondent over a domestic situation. 

However, after changing his mind the man called emergency services and was taken to the MDH. The man was treated and placed under the Mental Health Act (MHA) for later assessment.

On Feb. 15, 2018, a nurse from the hospital called Halton Police to report that the man had left the hospital. 

Two officers were dispatched to the man’s home address. 

The officers drove towards the man’s house after he was seen heading in that direction. The man tried to hide between two houses.

After exiting his vehicle, one officer advised that the man had to return to the hospital. The man refused and the officer grabbed him and tried to reassure him that he wasn’t in trouble. 

The man, however, pulled away and the other officer came over.

The officers eventually handcuffed the man behind his back.

“It is alleged that he [the man] told the officers while they were handcuffing him that he had a pre-existing shoulder injury and his arms ‘did not bend that way,’” reads the SIU report.

As a result of being handcuffed, the man’s shoulder was dislocated. 

The man complained of pain, and after reassuring that he would no longer resist, the officers removed his handcuffs.

The man was re-handcuffed with his hands in front of him and transported back to MDH.

On Feb. 23, 2018, eight days later, the man notified the SIU of the serious injury he sustained during the incident in Milton. 

“While I believe that the Complainant’s injury was caused when he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back, this action fell within the scope of force the subject officers were permitted to use by law and was not criminally negligent,” Tony Loparco, Director, Special Investigations Unit, said in the report.

“Thus, no charges will issue and the file will be closed.”

The SIU released the report regarding this incident on Feb. 8, 2019.

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