Sault police cleared in incident where woman’s arm was fractured during arrest

A Special Investigations Unit vehicle is seen in this file photo. (File)

Police in Sault Ste. Marie did nothing wrong when arresting a 24-year-old woman in October of 2024, Ontario’s police watchdog has concluded.

The woman, who had trouble regulating her emotions, ended up with a fractured right arm while she was being handcuffed.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit looked into the case because a civilian was injured during an interaction with police.

Police responded to a domestic disturbance involving two women on Oct. 13 at 2:40 p.m. last year, the SIU’s investigation said.

Could hear shouting

The woman could be heard shouting in the background when police received the call and became upset when she learned that police were on their way.

Officers “stopped down the street from the caller’s residence because they saw the two women on the front lawn of the house,” the SIU said.

Two officers called for backup before intervening because they feared the woman who called police was going to be assaulted.

“During the interaction, the complainant swung her arms and was combative,” the SIU said.

One officer “received a finger or fingernail to his eye and was sent to the hospital with a swollen eye and pain. (The second officer) was slapped twice in the face.”

A third officer arrived and restrained the woman so she could be handcuffed.

Grabbed her right arm

“The officer took hold of the complainant’s right arm and brought it behind her back to be handcuffed,” the SIU said.

“In that process, an audible snap was heard. The complainant had sustained a fracture of the right arm.”

The investigation uncovered that the woman reportedly “had difficulty with regulating her behaviour.”

“She frequently became violent with her family,” the SIU investigation said.

“A medication had been given to calm her down but had not taken effect yet.”

SIU director Joseph Martino said police were within their rights to take the woman into custody and place her in handcuffs.

“Grabbing hold of the complainant’s right arm and manipulating it around her back to be handcuffed were actions required to effect the arrest and performed without undue force,” Martino said.

“Certainly, some force was used by the officer to bring it behind the back, but this was made necessary by the complainant’s resistance.”

“While I accept that the complainant’s injury was incurred in the handcuffing process – the product, it appears, of countervailing forces acting on each other - I am not reasonably satisfied that it was attributable to unlawful conduct on the part of the (police officer). The file is closed.”

Read the full report here.