Manitoba’s police watchdog will not lay charges against a group of Winnipeg police officers who struggled to arrest a man who suffered a broken arm after his arrest.

In August 2022, Winnipeg police contacted Manitoba’s Independent Investigative Unit (IIU) — which investigates all serious matters involving police — after a man was arrested under the Detention Act of intoxicated people and later admitted to the Health Sciences Center with a fractured humerus.

THE IIU final report on the incidentwhich was completed in August and released Monday, states that one of the officers used force after punching the man in the torso with a closed fist, then using a pressure point behind his jaw to “take the control”,

However, the police watchdog concluded, there is “insufficient evidence” to indicate how the man’s arm was broken.

“I have no reasonable and probable cause to believe that the interaction between (the) SO (subject officer) and the police officers who attended to AP (associated person) caused his serious injury,” the report states .

The arrest followed a 911 call on August 19, 2022, for help from a drunk man who showed up on the porch of a house on Dufferin Avenue, near Salter Road.

A witness who gave a statement to the IIU said the drunk man “didn’t calm down” and “started getting angry and punching everyone”, hitting at least three people, including one who caused the drunk man to trip to the ground.

The witness told IIU that four men took turns restraining the man “three times for 20 minutes” before police arrived.

A police officer punched a man in the chest

The first police officer to arrive at the home told IIU that the drunk man was lying on his stomach, pinned down by another man, and was “screaming absurdly.”

The officer and his partner identified themselves as police and handcuffed the man who complied and was cooperative, according to their statement to the IIU.

Two other officers were dispatched to the house and the man was guided out of the house by his left arm, but he was not grimacing or suggesting it was broken, the first officer on scene told the IUI.

The report states the man fell twice as officers escorted him to the patrol car before being taken to the Main Street Project.

Officers told IIU that the man’s “behavior worsened,” becoming uncooperative at the protective care facility. He began acting erratically and repeatedly attempted to get up from a bench while telling one of the officers he was going to beat him, according to the officers’ statement.

One officer told the IIU that the man lifted his foot off the ground “toward the groin, possibly to kick him in the testicles,” but the officer abruptly backed away.

The officer said that when the man kicked another officer who was on his left side, he hit him in the middle, then “kept control of his head…and allowed the officers to then place a tear-resistant restraint on him.”

The officer told the IIU “that a single strike to the midsection was effective and officers did not need to use further force,” the report states.

Injuries not related to police use of force: IIU

A paramedic who examined the man at the Main Street Project told IIU that she saw the man “lying on the ground, on his stomach, handcuffed behind his back, struggling with four WPS officers.” who “held his legs and one on each side of his body”. upper torso.”

The man had trauma to his face, he was also bleeding from the mouth and nose and had a hematoma or goose egg on his forehead, according to the emergency services press release.

The IIU report says the man was transported to the Health Sciences Center and medical records indicated he suffered a “transverse oriented fracture” of the humerus.

The man spoke to IIU, but “he does not remember the incident because he was intoxicated,” the report states. He also said he didn’t know how he broke his arm or where it happened.

The IIU concluded that there was “no evidence to suggest” that the arrested man’s injuries were related to the police use of force, and given “the totality of the circumstances, it does not “There is not enough evidence” to indicate when and how the arm was broken.