Submitted by the a Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU) has terminated its investigation into injuries sustained by an adult male in the Rural Municipality (RM) of St. Andrews.
On Oct. 7, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reported an incident that occurred on Oct. 4, at approximately 10:10 a.m. According to the notification, an RCMP officer conducted a traffic stop near Meadowdale Road and Provincial Trunk Highway 9. At that time, the lone occupant, an adult male, suddenly exited the vehicle and became confrontational. The driver was arrested. During the arrest, a use-of-force encounter occurred. He was taken into custody and transported to Selkirk Hospital by emergency medical services. After being diagnosed with a ruptured eardrum, the male was released into police custody.
As this matter concerned a serious injury as defined under the IIU regulations, the IIU assumed responsibility for this investigation in accordance with Sec. 65(4) of the Police Services Act.
The civilian director deferred the designation of any officers as a subject officer until more information was received through the investigation. This decision was re-evaluated and no officers were designated.
After reviewing the information received from the RCMP and the affected person, it has been determined the RCMP and its officers were neither responsible for nor took any action that contributed to the serious injury suffered by the affected person.
Therefore, given the evidence does not demonstrate the affected person suffered a “serious injury” as defined in IIU regulations (99/2015) as a result of an interaction with police, this incident no longer meets the IIU’s mandate.
Accordingly, there is no further need for the IIU to investigate this incident and the matter will now be considered concluded.
The details of the investigation were first announced on Oct. 8.
