The province’s Special Investigations Unit has cleared a Halton Regional Police officer involved in a situation at the Acton Fall Fair that left a man seriously injured.
In a press release issued over the weekend, the SIU said its Director Joseph Martino determined “there were no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the man’s injury.”
According to the SIU, on September 20, 2024, Halton Regional Police Service officers who were working a paid-duty assignment at the Acton Fall Fair were alerted to an altercation involving two men in the parking lot at Prospect Park.
“Officers moved to separate the men. When one of the men either pushed or punched an officer, that officer reacted by punching the man in the face,” the SIU said in the press release.
“The 54-year-old man fell, struck his head and lost consciousness. He was transported to hospital and diagnosed with a skull fracture and brain bleed.”
A report from SIU Director Martino says the officer was “engaged in the performance of his lawful duties preserving the peace and ensuring public safety at the time of the events in question.”
Aware of a physical altercation, Martino writes that “the officer was within his rights in intervening to prevent a continuation of the hostilities.”
“I am further satisfied that the subject official (police officer) acted within the confines of the protection prescribed by section 34 (of the Criminal Code) when he struck the complainant,” states Martino’s report.
“He had just been assaulted by the complainant and was entitled to take action to defend himself from a further attack by way of like force. While it is regrettable that the complainant fell, struck his head and suffered serious injuries as a result of the officer’s punch, I am unable to reasonably conclude on this record that the subject official comported himself other than in a fashion commensurate with the exigencies of the moment.
“For the foregoing reasons, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case.”
